MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has issued a warrant of arrest against Irene Kho, mother of former celebrity doctor Hayden Kho Jr., over the libel case filed against her by actress Katrina Halili.
Judge Luisito Cortez of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 issued the arrest warrant, while the case is under RTC Branch 85, whose presiding judge, Maria Filomena-Singh, is on leave. Cortez is the pairing judge for Branch 85. Cortez recommended bail at P10,000 for each count of libel against Irene. The libel case stemmed from Irene’s statements during separate television interviews wherein she accused Halili of being a drug addict and the one who introduced her son to drug use. Halili and Hayden, her former lover, figured in a sex video scandal last year.
In August last year, Quezon City Assistant City Prosecutor Rafael Villordon junked the complaint against Irene, saying he did not find basis to charge her in court. But Halili challenged this and filed a petition for review with the Department of Justice.
In a resolution on March 12, then justice secretary Agnes Devanadera reversed the earlier ruling and ordered the indictment of Irene. Devanadera said the statements Irene issued in two separate interviews in May last year were “libelous, malicious and uttered by the respondent to publicly humiliate and ridicule complainant.”
Quezon City Assistant City Prosecutor Corazon Romano filed on April 20 two separate cases against Irene before the court and these were consolidated into one case and raffled off to Quezon City RTC Branch 84.
Hayden, who had been stripped of his medical license by the Professional Regulatory Commission, has been charged with violating the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act for allegedly videotaping his sexual encounters with a number of female partners, including Halili.
Hayden had posted a P20,000 bail before Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 159 in connection with the case.