Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday that her office is ready to work without a budget next year.

This was in response to lawmakers saying they would either defund or only give a P1 budget for the Office of the Vice President.

“We heard they would defund the Office of the Vice President budget. We also heard that it’s possible that they would allocate only P1 for the Office of the Vice President,” Duterte said in a video.

“We are ready. I am ready for the Office of the Vice President to work even without a budget. Our office is small, our operations are small that’s why we can really work even without a budget. We know that this is only part of the attacks so we will just continue to do what is needed for our country,” she added.

Duterte and her representatives on Monday skipped the hearing of the House Appropriations panel on the proposed P2.03-billion budget of the Office of the Vice President.

In a letter submitted to the panel, she said her office would leave the budget to the discretion of the committee members. Jaspearl Tan/DMS