?Love is in the air,? newspapers, shopping malls and hotels trumpet, referring to Saturday, Valentine?s Day.

Actually, the ?love is in the air? catch phrase has been on since last month almost immediately after the holidays for the most commercialized day in the calendar.

It is commercialized in the sense that prices have more than doubled for flowers, chocolates, hotel rates for lovers, and even in assignation places like motels, so they say.

Santa Banana, in my time, being in love wasn?t as expensive as it now. For the girls we have loved before, I could even afford flowers with my measly allowance to school.

In fact, I?d say that being in love today is much easier than my time when we had to visit girls we liked with the yaya looking at us all the time with suspicious eyes, and when we could not go on a date without a chaperone.

My gulay, the love letters I wrote my wife and others could fill a box. But, that?s what made things exciting. As the song ?Love Letters? goes, ?I memorize every line, and kiss the name that you sign.? Now, with the digital technology, lovers simply text each other and meet at shopping malls.

How times have changed! Being in love now can cost you a leg. My gulay, even eating establishments have doubled prices so much so that you have be rich to fall in love.

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In the wake of the imbroglio at SGV with the ouster of managing partner David Balangue, who has been made chairman, and with the installation of the next in line, Cirilo Noel (with the backing of Ernst & Young, SGV?s worldwide accountancy partner), there are now many questions being asked not only about the future of SGV, but on the law.

Note that accountancy in the Philippines is a profession reserved for Filipinos. Like the practice of law. Having Ernst & Young take over SGV could entail violation of the anti-dummy laws in contravention of the Constitution.

The fact that out of 84 SGV partners, 13 have not agreed on the integration of SGV with Ernst & Young, an American accountancy entity, should be of great concern to the regulators. Actually, even if only one partner objected to the integration, the regulators should have already intervened.

Now, we have a full-blown controversy since SGV audits over 600 of the first 1,000 Philippine corporations.

In fact, the Internet has been crowded with reports of concerned Filipino CPAs over the control of an American accountancy firm of the biggest Philippine accountancy group.

One such coming to the Internet is addressed to Securities and Exchange Commissioner Chairman Fe Barin with copies for Sanjiv Vohra, Mark Watkinson, Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Ramon del Rosario, Washington Sycip (one of the three founders of SGV), Lucio Tan, Tony Tancaktiong, Alfred Sy, Manny Pangilinan, Roberto Aboitiz, Tammy Lipana, Roberto Manabat, Ben Punongbayan, Joey Cuisia, James Go, Tessie Sy Coson among others, since obviously they are all clients of SGV.

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The Internet message follows:

?Integrity, objectivity and independence are a must for public accounting firms. In the Philippines, there is an additional must ?you must be a Filipino.

?SGV is the auditor of such reputable companies like PLDT, Citibank, Ayala, PNB, HSBC, Jollibee, Coke?to be exact and as SGV brags in its proposals, over 65 percent of the top 1,000 companies.

?And yet there are so many questions surrounding it?is it owned or controlled by EY? Is Wash Sycip still involved and if so how can he sit as board member of SGV clients?in fact he even is chairman of one! In fact, he still holds office at SGV?why oust a managing partner like David Balangue unless there is a hidden hand?

?There are some of the questions that need to be resolved as soon as possible for the sake of the clients whose financial statements can be put into question, for the sake of SGV and for the sake of the Philippine public accountancy profession.

?We are calling on the SEC not to abdicate its responsibilities?if not, just like in the pre-need industry, Congress may step in.

Considering the blatant negligence and incompetence of the SEC in exercising its regulatory powers over the pre-need industry, especially on their trust funds, the onus now is on the shoulders of Chairman Fe Barin.

Santa Banana, don?t tell me that she doesn?t also have enough regulatory powers over the accountancy industry as her cop-out in the case of erring pre-need firms.

My gulay, perhaps Congress should dig deeper into SGV imbroglio since it also affects not only the accountancy profession, but public interest as well.

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Commission on Higher Education Chairman Manny Angeles put his finger on the knee-jerk opposition among many of my colleagues in media and among politicians, especially presidential wannabes, on the proposed five-year nursing curriculum.

Clearly, as Angeles said, these objectors have not bothered to know the details of his proposal.

I can agree with Angeles since a study and analysis of the CHED?s proposal doesn?t mean actually adding another year to the current four-year nursing curriculum. What the CHED is after is to update the curriculum to weed out unnecessary subjects and make it more responsive to the needs of the nursing profession with the goal of making nursing in the Philippines more globally competitive.

For instance, the CHED proposal would do away with crammed courses that prove to be a deterrent to absorption of knowledge. At present, the last two years of college are crammed with too many courses, which are not conducive to effective learning process.

The result has been dismal with more than 50 percent failing in board exams. Parents may not realize it, but they are already paying for a five- year nursing program and yet more than 50 percent fail the exam. A study shows that the current four-year course would cost the same, as the proposed five-year course.