Eduardo V. Manalo

Eduardo Villanueva Manalo, (born October 31, 1955) is the third and current Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), succeeding Eraño G. Manalo after his death.^[1]

Personal life

He is the eldest son of Eraño Manalo and Cristina Villanueva. His grandfather, Felix Manalo, named him "Eduardo". He was married to Lynn Ventura on January 2, 1982. He met his wife when he studied at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. Their three children also graduated at UP. Dorothy Kristine, who graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Law, is a lawyer serving as the Corporate Secretary of the Iglesia Ni Cristo and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New Era University. Gemma Minna earned Bachelor's degrees in Music Education and in Choral Conducting. She is the INC Overall Choir Director and the Head of the INC Music Department. She is married to Antonio De Guzman, a minister of the gospel and a graduate from Yale University. Angelo Eraño, a minister of the gospel, is the Overall Coordinator of the INC Christian Family Organizations; he took up European Languages at UP at the same time pursuing ministerial studies at the INC College of Evangelical Ministry.^[2]

Education

Eduardo graduated high school from Jose Abad Santos Memorial School (JASMS), Quezon City. He took his college education from the University of the Philippines Diliman with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. While pursuing his undergraduate studies in UP, he undertook his ministerial studies at the Evangelical College (EVCO), the predecessor of the New Era University- College of Evangelical Ministry. He graduated from UP in 1978, and from EVCO in 1980.^[2]

Early years in the ministry

After graduating from EVCO, his first assignment was in the INC's local congregation of Cubao in Quezon City. He was ordained as a minister on May 9, 1980 at the INC house of worship in Tondo, Manila After a brief assignment in the Project 4, Quezon City congregation, he was appointed Assistant Dean of EVCO. He hosted a religious radio program over DZEC and was one of the first panelists on the TV program, "Ang Iglesia Ni Cristo". His administrative capability was further honed as a Coordinator of the Metro Manila Ecclesiastical District (at the present, Metro Manila was divided into six (6) districts) beginning in 1984.^[2]

Information and communication technology involvement

He founded the Society of Communicators and Networkers (SCAN) for INC members with a common interest in radio communication. He also began and maintained a popular Bulletin Board System (BBS) and further developed his programming skills. He organized the Data and Network Management (DNM) office, which oversaw the computerization of the entire INC Central Office. He sponsored Internet seminars for ministers in various ecclesiastical districts of the church. In an article "RP marks 7th year on the Internet" in the March 2001 edition of the magazine Computerworld Philippines, Filipino information technology enthusiasts recognized Eduardo Manalo as belonging to the "group of pioneers that brought the nation into the Internet Age".^[2][3]

He contributed to the founding of an organization within the INC called The Association of Christians in Information Technology, an organization consisting of INC members in the Information technology field who perform computer-related assistance to the church.^[4] This organization was renamed and became the Association of Computer Technologists and Information Volunteers (ACTIV) on 2012.

Deputy Executive Minister (1994-2009)

On May 7, 1994, Eduardo Manalo assumed his responsibility as Deputy Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo after being elected unanimously by the Church Executive Council. As a Deputy Executive Minister, he will be the successor of the Office of the Executive Minister. He was entrusted with the task of registering the INC officially in Rome, Italy, in 1994. In 1996, along with 11 ministers, he joined the then Executive Minister Eraño Manalo in establishing the INC's local congregation in Jerusalem, Israel. In 1997, he also accompanied on establishing the congregation in Athens, Greece.^[5]

Over the months of July to August 1998, he conducted a pastoral visitation to Hawaii and the USA in commemoration of the 30th year of the INC in the West. Another major pastoral visitation took place over the months of April to May, 2006, to the local congregations in Europe, Middle East, and Asia.^[6]

Administration

Three years since Eduardo Manalo assumed the office as the church's executive minister on September 7, 2009, INC has added outside the Philippines 65 local congregations, 20 congregation-extensions, and 57 GWS or Group Worship Services units that are being groomed to one day becoming extensions and eventually local congregations. Seven new ecclesiastical districts or large administrative units were added. These districts can comprise anywhere from ten to a hundred local congregations. These new districts are Northeast Asia (August 31, 2010), Southeast Asia (July 28, 2011), Eastern Canada (June 16, 2011), Western Canada (June 16, 2011), Qatar (July 9, 2012), United Arab Emirates (July 9, 2012), and United Kingdom (July 9, 2012). These figures do not include those in the Philippines.

In the Philippines alone, where INC Engineering and Construction Department undertakes the church's construction projects, 316 houses of worship, each with offices and housing facilities, were dedicated while 28 more were dedicated outside the Philippines from September 11, 2009 to September 7, 2012. The biggest house of worship outside the Philippines can be found in Barcelona, Spain which can accommodate more than 1,000 worshipers at a time. INC bought the property from Jehovah's Witnesses and it was dedicated on July 2012.

On August 17, 2011, INC led the groundbreaking of the church's most ambitious building so far- the Philippine Arena- on a 75-hectare field straddling Bocaue and Sta. Maria Bulacan. The 50,000-seater multi-purpose structure, touted to become the world's biggest indoor domed arena, is expected to be completed in time for the INC's centennial celebration in July 2014. Other major projects of the church as part of its centennial celebration are the EVM Convention Center and the Iglesia Ni Cristo Museum along Central Avenue, Quezon City, The Legal Department Building and the INC Media Center Building inside the INC Central Office Complex in Quezon City, and the Philippine Stadium and the Philippine Sports Center also in Bulacan. In that area now called Ciudad de Victoria (City of Victory) will also rise the EGM Medical Hospital and the New Era University- Bocaue Campus. One of the most significant of these "centennial projects" is the new College of Evangelical Ministry being constructed along Central Avenue. Three levels higher and more than double the floor space of its four-story predecessor.

Eduardo Manalo has ordained 1,620 new ministers within the span of his three-year administration.^[2]

Political influence in the Philippines

According to Armando Doronila's The Fall of Joseph Estrada: The Inside Story,^[7] – as well as local newspaper reports such as the May 7, 2001 issue of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manalo was figured in the attempted rebellion known as Edsa 3. He was reportedly invited by the instigators to sit in at the negotiations between the administration and the opposition during EDSA III. The crowd that gathered were composed mostly of members of INC, some of whom told CNN that followers were encouraged to join the pro-Estrada demonstrations.^[8][9] In a statement, representatives from the INC stated they held no position on the uprising, other than its intentions of peace.^[10]

References

External links

• Iglesia Ni Cristo Media
• Biography of Eduardo Manalo

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