MANILA, Philippines ? The Quezon City prosecutor?s office has dismissed the libel complaint filed by actress Katrina Halili against the mother of Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. for lack of probable cause.

In a four-page resolution dated August 6 which was released only Thursday, Assistant City Prosecutor Rafael Villordon said there was no proof that there was malice in the statements made in several television interviews by Kho?s mother, Irene, against Halili in May.

Irene had claimed that Halili was a drug user who supplied her son with illegal drugs.

She made the statements after videos of her son having sex with several women, including Halili, were leaked on the Internet. The controversy led the actress to file charges against Kho whom she accused of taping a private act between them without her knowledge.

?She [Irene] earnestly believed her allegations to be true, and there [was] no clear showing that there was any malicious intention to cause damage to Halili?s reputation,? the prosecutor said.

He added that Irene was able to prove that her statements were without malice ? one of the key elements of libel.

?They arose from the natural obligation of a mother to defend her son. It doesn?t appear that she made those remarks recklessly, or in utter disregard of whether they were true or false,? Villordon said.

In her defense, Irene said her statements were based on what her son had told her while he was recovering in the hospital after a suicide attempt in 2008.

She added that she was just a mother defending her son from the vicious verbal attacks made against him after the sex video scandal, and that her statements were supported by her son?s testimonies before the Senate and other government agencies.