PROBABLE CAUSE    

Arroyo, who denies all charges against her, also faces allegations of fraud over the 2004 presidential election and corruption in her administration.

The alleged vote rigging happened in the restive southern Muslim province of Maguindanao, where all 12 pro-Arroyo senate candidates won a clean of sweep of the province at term elections in 2007, at odds with national trends.

"After finding the existence of probable cause, the court issued a warrant of arrest against the accused," a clerk of Pasay City Regional Trial Court told reporters.

Arroyo herself has not been seen since Tuesday night, when, following the initial Supreme Court decision to lift her travel ban, she had turned up at the airport in a wheelchair and her neck in a brace, but she and her husband were turned back.

She has since been at a private hospital in Manila.

"We will not object to a hospital arrest. We will not insist on bringing her to any detention facility," de Lima said.

Dozens of police officers had ringed the hospital on Friday before the warrant was issued. Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said they were there to ensure the safety of Arroyo.

The Pasay City court also set on Monday morning a hearing on a separate petition to issue a hold departure order, which could

permanently prevent Arroyo from leaving the country.