Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez has called on Maharlika Investment Corp. president and CEO Rafael Consing Jr. to put to rest the questions over a fraud or estafa case supposedly filed against him and his mother, along with suggesting to the Supreme Court to inform the public about the status of the complaint against Consing, citing a 2013 decision penned by then Chief Justice and now Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
The solon found clarification necessary as Consing had been appointed head of the MIC, the state owned firm that would manage the country’s first-ever sovereign wealth fund. Considering that he will be responsible for billions of pesos worth of funds, it is definitely not enough for Consing to simply say that the case was dismissed and expect the public, that already had doubts over the MIC that was expediently passed into law by the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to take his word as gold.
“I am urging him to provide or disclose all of the details, and to show proof of dismissal so that all concerns about his qualification to head the government corporation that will manage tens of billions in assets of the Maharlika Investment Fund will be resolved,” Rodriguez said.
He pointed out that it was important for Consing to clarify when the fraud or estafa case and any related complaint was dismissed and to provide proof of its dismissal, saying, “If the complaint has been thrown out five years before his appointment, then he is qualified. If the case was resolved with finality within the five-year period or it is still pending, then he clearly is disqualified.”
Consing’s appointment as head of the MIF, by President Marcos Jr., has raised more questions than answers. If the appropriate due diligence had been conducted to ensure the public’s trust in what is already a sketchy proposition for such an impoverished nation, those questions could have been easily answered. However, it seems that the appointment was made without the necessary examination into the qualifications, heart, and soul of the newly created MIF’s head honcho, so he and the government that put him there have some explaining to do.
Hopefully the ones concerned can provide the clarification, along with the supporting documents, very soon. So we can get to the business of making this aspiration of a sovereign fund a reality so its critics can be silenced by good performance and unquestionable integrity.*
