The Philippines asked Tuesday the United Nations to expand its $74-million Flash Appeal for typhoon victims to fully respond to its relief and rehabilitation efforts.

This developed as an administration lawmaker asked the Commission on Audit (CoA) to conduct a special audit of calamity expenditures of local and national government agencies, warning that billions of pesos in calamity funds are in danger of being misappropriated.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said he met with UN Resident Coordinator Jacqueline Badcock to express the Philippine government’s appeal for the expansion of UN humanitarian assistance.

“We have asked the UN to expand the flash appeal,” he said uring the Cabinet Meeting in San Fernando, Pampanga.

He said next week, the UN will again make a call to the international community to augment the Philippines’ need for more rehabilitation aid.

The Philippines already postponed the hosting the Non-Aligment Movement (NAM) Summit on Interfaith Dialogue to focus on its relief and reconstruction programs.

Teodoro said the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), which he heads, is now conducting massive preemptive packing and prepositioning of relief goods and rescue teams in anticipation of another tropical storm that is expected to enter the Philippine area of responsibility on Thursday and will be felt in Southern Luzon and Central Luzon on Friday.

During the briefing, President Arroyo ordered the deployment of military troops from engineering brigades to help in the government’s reconstruction effort.

The formal launch of the UN Flash Appeal for Tropical Storm “Ondoy” victims was held on October 6 in New York City. A similar launch was also held in the UN Offices in Geneva on the same day and in Manila on October 7.

The UN Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) already earmarked $7 million in emergency assistance for the Philippine government. The aid was sourced out from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which is used to finance sudden-onset or under-funded crises.

The UN’s $74-million appeal is considered the largest ever UN humanitarian assistance for the Philippines.

Two weeks ago, UN Undersecretary General John Holmes had a two-day visit in Manila to extend the world body’s unwavering support to the Philippines’ relief and rehabilitation efforts.

Meanwhile, the call for a special audit of calamity funds was raised by Rep. Teodolo Coquilla, citing the case of the provincial government of Eastern Samar, where concerns about the misuse of P100 million in calamity funds were aired by various sectors in the province.

CoA Chairman Reynaldo Villar swiftly reacted to Coquilla’s proposal, saying a special audit team will be created to look into the Eastern Samar calamity expenditure.

Villar admitted that the solon’s concerns were valid.

“Upon receipt of a complaint or request of an auditing for a calamity fund, the commission may create an investigating team that would look into the matter,” Villar said.