ARTURO ‘Art’ Macapagal, a two-time Olympian shooter and brother of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, died on Tuesday due to a lingering illness, a member of his sister’s legal team confirmed on Tuesday.
Atty. Larry Gadon said Macapagal expired on Tuesday, 6:40 a.m. after a long battle with prostate cancer, radio station DZBB reported. He was 72.
Macapagal was the son of former Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal by his first wife Purita Dela Rosa but found his niche in sports. He was a member of the national shooting team and competed in the men’s free pistol event of the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
According to macapagal.com, Macapagal held the national record in the Olympic free pistol for 21 years and won the All-Around Filipino Sports Awardee of the Philippine Sportswriters Association in 1973 and 1974.
He was also honored as the Most Outstanding Shooter for the Decade by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) during the eighties.
Macapagal, who was also a businessman, also became the president of the Philippine Olympians Association and was a former chief of the Philippine National Shooting Association.
He also ran for president of the POC in 2008, where he lost to Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco by the slimmest of margin, 19-21.