Rafael “Joel” Consing Jr. knows exactly when his time at the Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) ends. 

November 23. Five o’clock sharp.

But who will take over the country’s still-young sovereign wealth fund? That part we don’t yet know.

“It’s been reported my term as PCO ends at the end of this month. Any announcement on the transition will come from the Palace,” Consing told reporters on Thursday, November 5. 

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Leaving too is MIC’s chief investment and operating officer Kheed Nielsen Ng, who is co-terminus with Consing.

Though MIC’s boss has kept mum on who might take his place, one name making the rounds is Finance Undersecretary Ma. Angela “Angel” Ignacio, who oversees the Department of Finance’s (DOF) Government Corporations and Investments Group. 

Ignacio joined the DOF in February 2026, but she is no stranger to Finance Secretary Frederick Go or Consing himself. All three previously worked at the now-defunct Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, which Go headed before taking over the DOF. Ignacio served as an undersecretary, while Consing was its executive director before taking the helm at Maharlika.

When asked about it, Consing offered no confirmation. The appointment, he said, remains the call of the President.

So after three years at the helm, does Consing have any parting instructions?

“I don’t give instructions to my successors,” Consing said. “No instructions, just a suggested path forward.”

What he is leaving behind, however, is paperwork. Lots of it. MIC departments are assembling year-end reports. For his part, Consing is preparing a compendium of his research papers, which he intends to share with his successor and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

“All the stuff that we’re doing actually came as a result of my research background. And I’ve written much more than what we’ve done. I’m turning over all of those to my successor,” he said.

There is also the matter of preserving the institutional culture, arguably just as important a matter, especially for a fledgling sovereign wealth fund that found its inception marred by governance concerns. 

“One of the messages that I’ve always told them, and I continue to tell them, and which I will tell them on the 23rd when I leave is: They are the legacy of MIC, apart from what it aims to achieve. And they’re also my continuation, my transition. So hence, whatever we have achieved can only grow from here,” he said.

As for his own next act, Consing said he is leaving government, though he did not rule out returning someday. 

Before joining the government in 2023, he was the chief financial officer of Enrique Razon Jr.’s International Container Terminal Services Inc. and managing director at HSBC.

For now, he says he is occupied with making sure MIC is left “very, very strong” and with handing over a “very healthy organization” to his successor. – Rappler.com

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