A PARTNERS? revolt within SGV is indeed under way, and it has something to do with the ?Internal Agreement? that SGV has committed itself to honor in order to continue its audit, tax, and financial services relationship with its de-facto principal, the multinational Ernst & Young.

According to the grapevine, at least 13 of the 80-plus partners have refused to sign the agreement despite the intercession of SGV founder and industry guru Washington Sycip.

Talks of partners as high up as vice chairman seeking early retirement and the formation of a breakaway group have been gaining velocity within the auditing circles since the other week, when two critical columns appeared in two other broadsheets.

Despite the ownership restrictions set by the Philippine Constitution, SGV has managed to skirt around the protectionist limitations as early as 1985, when the then region?s largest accountancy firm folded its Philippine, Indonesian, Taiwanese and Thai operations to become members of the Arthur Andersen & Co., Soci?t? Coop?rative.

The partnership lasted until the collapse of Andersen in 2002, with SGV quickly signing itself up under the umbrella of Ernst & Young.

A quick check with the Internet showed that SGV does not even have its own corporate Web site, its Web presence being subsumed under the Ernst & Young global Web page.

?The rumor is that Ernst & Young has been forcibly implementing global structural changes which is believed to follow the Asean Framework Agreement on Mutual Recognition Arrangements in spite of objections from concerned local partners who believed that the resulting Internal Agreement between EY and SGV is in violation of the Constitution and other existing laws,? said ex-SGV partner Alfredo Non.

Puregold surrounds 168 Mall

Lucio Co of Puregold appears to be encircling the popular 168 Shopping Mall in Divisoria.

Not only has Puregold taken up the ground floor of Benjamin Bitanga?s Benisons Shopping Center across the street from 168, Co has also bought a 6,000-square-meter lot on Solis St. right beside 168 where Co, a duty-free importer-turned-retailer, plans to build another mall, with Puregold as the anchor tenant.

According to the grapevine, the Solis property was acquired from the Madrigals at P150,000 a square meter, which translates to a whopping P900 million.

Meanwhile, the corporate owner of 168, Yeelofa Development Corp., wrote to say that the company has not acquired the neighboring Meisic Mall, as had been reported in this space on Jan. 23.

Now renamed 1188 Mall, the customer-challenged Meisic Mall, owned and operated by Bullion Investment and Development Corp., apparently wants to ride on the coattail of its successful neighbor with the change to numerical shingle.

Money-go-round

? The economic slowdown has washed up even on the local advertising scene, with DDB Philippines retrenching 18 employees.

? Saying the late corporate lawyer Norberto J. Quisumbing had failed to make a valid tender of redemption, the Supreme Court last week dismissed the two-decade-old case filed by Quisumbing seeking to stop the Philippine National Bank from selling the various properties the bank had foreclosed way back in 1985 from Quisumbing client Ricardo Silverio of Delta Motors and Komatsu Industries and his late wife Beatriz Sison.

Heard through the grapevine

She may strike others as a straight-laced maid, but former Finance Undersecretary Milwida Guevarra does have a weakness for sweet things, even going out of her NGO-zone to comb the aisles of Marks & Spencer to look for some British delicacies, thankfully not including marmite.

(Web site: www.cocktales.ph; e-mail: cocktales_mst@pldtdsl.net)