Gov't secures P714M from Monet art deal

A successful compromise agreement a process initiated during the previous administration-added P714 million to national coffers last May, coming from the current owner of a Monet painting that had been sold overseas and formed part of the ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand E.

- By BEN ARNOLD DE VERA

Marcos Sr., according to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) "This amount represents the proceeds of a compromise agreement entered into by the Republic of the Philippines with the current possessor of Claude Monet's 'Water-Lily Pond' (Le Bassin aux Nymphéas)," said the PCGG, the agency tasked with recovering and selling assets from Marcos Sr., his family, and cronies, in response to a query from Manila Bulletin.

"We would like to clarify that the painting was neither sold nor offered for sale this year," the PCGG said.

In July, Manila Bulletin reported on the rare P714-million PCGG remittance to the national treasury, which the Department of Finance (DOF) had attributed to the "sale" of a Monet painting.

Prior to May 2025, the PCGG had not remitted any privatization revenues since about P900,000 was turned over in May 2023 from the sale of a 300-square-meter (sqm) property in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.