By Victor C. Agustin

SGV has confirmed that vice chairman Roman Felipe Reyes and 13 other partners have decided to withdraw from the auditing partnership, placing the 14 on “pre-departure leave” effective last Friday.

“The 14 partners had written a letter addressed to chairman David Balangue and managing partner Cirilo Noel, informing them that their last day of active service would be on Feb. 28, 2009— a date which they believe would be sufficient to transition their pending jobs to other SGV partners,” SGV said in a statement that it issued to deny that the 14 had been terminated.

The company added that Balangue and Noel received the withdrawal letter from the SGV 14 last Wednesday. Instead of the requested Feb. 28, Noel informed the departing partners that he was advancing the effectivity of their pre-departure leave to last Friday, a move that an SGV 14 counsel described as “constructive dismissal.”

According to an SGV briefing paper, partners on pre-departure leave—known within the country’s largest audit firm as “garden leave—“shall not attend any office of the firm, engage in any business or professional activity of the firm, or otherwise represent himself, or permit himself to be held out, as being in any way authorized to bind the firm.”

The SGV 14—Roman Felipe Reyes, Protacio Tacandong, Rafael Vinzon, Emmanuel Clarino, Joel Tan-Torres, Mildred Ramos, Betty Siy-Yap, Feliza Peralta, Melinda Gonzales-Manto, Bennette Daplas Bachoco, Belinda Fernando, Haydee Reyes, Carolina Angeles, and Marilou Bartolome —had apparently been negotiating their exit package with Balangue as early as December.

“As we mentioned earlier, we are extremely uncomfortable and fearful that SGV and EY [Ernst & Young] may have already violated the Constitution, Philippine Accountancy Act and the Anti-Dummy Law,” the “dissenting partners” said in a letter sent to SGV management last Wednesday.

“We also reiterated in our e-mail dated Dec. 6, 2008, that we did not agree to abide by the six-month trial period and that we continue to protest the integration because of legal and other issues.

“We reiterate that we do not, have not, and cannot consent to any illegal or unethical act, whether actual or potential, or to any act/s that may be construed or may pave the way to the actual commission of illegal or unethical acts,” the letter concluded.

The drawn-out negotiations with the dissenting partners had apparently also caused the ouster of Balangue as managing partner and his being replaced by Noel earlier this month.

According to sources within SGV, the 14 dissenting partners were finally given, after extensive consultations with Ernst & Young Hong Kong, a withdrawal package equivalent to one year salary—but in exchange for the partners signing a one year “non-compete” clause.