Mayor Ferdinand Bote Memorial Fund

Ferdinand “Ferdie” Bote was born and raised in Gen. Tiño, Nueva Ecija (or ”Papaya” as the locals would call it). He firmly believed in doing what’s right and putting in hard work to achieve his goals. He spent the earlier part of his adult life using his education in Engineering to establish and build a successful construction company. In the last decade, Ferdie looked towards becoming a political figure and leader with dreams of helping his fellow Papayanos and bringing his community together. 

Ferdie supported various causes that he believed in throughout his life. Even before he started his political career, he began helping under-privileged children reach their dreams of attending college by personally funding their education. He was passionate about giving the youth of his small community the chance to pursue their education despite their means or background.

When he entered politics in 2004, his efforts multiplied, reaching young people as far as the mountainside to give them the opportunity to continue their education in college.  His philanthropy extended to educators as well, helping many teachers earn their masters degrees so that the children in Papaya could have better education from these instructors.

On July 3, 2018, Mayor Ferdinand Bote was ambushed and assassinated, causing a tremendous amount of pain and sadness for both his family and the community.  He was just 57 years old. He is survived by his loving wife, 4 children, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. 

The organizers of this group include myself, (Bianca Velayo) and Mariel Kimura, his nieces, as well as Jocelyn Velayo and Cynthia Herrera, his sisters. We are all here in the US. We are working with our entire family both here in the United States and in the Philippines to continue his legacy by establishing  a non-profit organization that would allow underprivileged children to continue their education.  Many of the children who relied on Ferdie's support are left heartbroken, and some have even stopped attending school with no pathway to continue their education without the programs he started.  We would like for them to go back to school, and help support more children in the future to reach their highest potential through education.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 dollars (1 million pesos) so that we can register the Ferdinand Bote Memorial Foundation as an official non-profit foundation in the Philippines Securities and Exchange.

Creating the foundation is our number one goal at this time which will be handled by the organizers of this group.

Please consider making a donation to our Go Fund Me page to help Ferdie’s dream live on through the children who’s education meant so much to him.