The court of appeals last week ordered five unspecified banks operating in the Philippines to prevent the transfer or withdrawal of dollar and peso accounts under the name of Major General Carlos Garcia and members of his family.

The eight accounts held a combined 728,000 dollars and some 11.44 million pesos, or a combined 52.41 million pesos (931,323 dollars), Solicitor-General Alfredo Benipayo said in a statement.

The government's Anti-Money Laundering Council had petitioned the appelate court to freeze the assets as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption by Garcia, formerly the armed forces' chief finance officer.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said some other accounts held by the Garcia family had been moved before the freeze order came into force. He gave no details.

"It would be very difficult" to go after the funds withdrawn from the bank accounts, Gonzalez said. "The government would of course do what we can to trace where he moved them."

Garcia, who is under house arrest, was sacked from his post in April after the military brass learned that he and members of his family had brought nearly 700,000 dollars in cash into the United States over the past 10 years. The general earned about 600 dollars a month.

In December US customs officials also seized 100,000 dollars from one of the general's sons after the son failed to declare the amount of cash he was carrying into San Francisco.

The justice department has asked the US government to freeze all assets of the Garcia family in the United States, including a supposed house in Westerville, Ohio, and two New York city apartment units.

President Gloria Arroyo on Wednesday ordered military prosecutors to speed up their investigation of Garcia's activities and to put him on trial before a military tribunal if there is enough evidence.