Filipino Olympic champion Carlos Yulo’s mother apologizes for unauthorized withdrawals from son’s bank accounts

Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo. Photo from Yulo’s Instagram

According to PhilNews, during a press conference on Wednesday, Angelic expressed remorse and described herself as a concerned mother looking out for her children’s future.

“Son, I am sorry. I understand some may think I’m only speaking now because of your success,” Angelica said, as quoted by the New York Post. “I ask for your forgiveness as a concerned mother. You are mature enough to make your own decisions. Our door is always open, regardless of your financial status.”

She expressed hope for resolving these issues within the family and explained her actions were motivated by concern over potential future financial difficulties for her son.

“The money was given to me,” she added. “As a mother, I was worried that my child might have financial problems in the future. So I invested it under my name.”

In his video released the previous day, Carlos accused his mother of embezzling his earnings.

“Apart from the incentives, my mom also had access to my bank account and my monthly allowances for gymnastics,” the gymnast said in Filipino, as quoted by Inquirer.

“When I finally got control of that bank account, I found out she had been draining it. I have the bank statements showing the withdrawals she made.”

The gymnast also revealed discrepancies in his mother’s reporting of his incentives from the 2022 World Championships, where he won two medals, compared to the actual amount he should have received.

“The 70,000 pesos (US$1,221) incentives she mentioned from the World Championships in 2021, first of all, it was actually in 2022,” he said. “I didn’t just receive 70,000 pesos, I know it was a six-digit amount because I won two medals.”

He said he only discovered these incentives after conducting his own search and clarified that he had neither received nor requested them. However, he emphasized that although he had relinquished them, he was keen to know their whereabouts.

The gymnast further stressed that his concern was not about the amount but rather the secretive handling and use of the funds without his consent.

At 24, Carlos is celebrated as the most accomplished Filipino gymnast in history, according to Forbes. He became the second Filipino ever to win an Olympic gold medal and the first to clinch multiple gold medals at the games after triumphing in men’s floor and vault events at this year’s Paris Olympics.

He is slated to receive several honors from the Philippine government, including a three-bedroom condo valued at 32 million pesos (US$558,000) in Manila, according to Fortune magazine.