Ka Eduardo’s inspiring leadership brand

This coming Saturday, Oct. 31st, Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo will mark his 66th birthday. On this coming special occasion, we join the INC and our countrymen in wishing Ka Eduardo well.

We also wish to honor him for the sterling leadership he has shown as he leads his flock and inspires the rest of us during these difficult times.

Two years ago, we paid tribute to Ka Eduardo’s brand of leadership in this column. We are sharing with our readers today excerpts from that piece we wrote in 2019. These are times when we can use every inspiration we can get. Ka Eduardo offers such inspiration.

We wrote:

“As our readers know, Ka Eduardo is the third leader of the INC to hold the position of Executive Minister, a function, role and mission he has lived up to for the past 12 years.

Ka Eduardo continues the mission handed over to him by the INC from his late father, the highly revered Eraño Manalo or Ka Erdie. Ka Erdie, in turn, received that mission from the INC following the death of his father, INC Founder Felix Y. Manalo.

It was Felix Manalo who founded the INC; it was Ka Erdie who grew it; and, it was Ka Eduardo who shepherded its entry into the age of modern information and communication technology while overseeing its rapid expansion worldwide.

Unknown to many non-members, the current INC Executive Minister is known as a leading figure in the information and technology community. In the early years of the internet’s growth, he was already recognized by the magazine Computerworld Philippines as being part of a “group of pioneers that brought the Philippines into the internet age.”

That and other recognition received by Ka Eduardo in this field must have been the fruit of his initiatives at tapping the power of the cyberworld to propagate the message and the work began by his grandfather.

According to internet sources, Ka Eduardo “founded the Society of Communicators and Networkers (SCAN) for INC members with a common interest in radio communication to help and assist the community during emergencies.”

“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,” the internet sources say.

“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 who perform computerrelated assistance to the church. This organization was renamed and became the Association of Computer Technologists and Information Volunteers (ACTIV) in 2012,” internet sources add.

It is through the INC’s well-designed internet and social media presence that the rest of the country became aware of its rapid global expansion.

Based on information from the INC’s church and media websites, it appears that Ka Eduardo has successfully led the planting of the faith in nearly all continents of the world. We share in the success of Ka Eduardo’s evangelistic mission.

After all, the growth of the INC is not just all about spreading religion. It means helping more people gain access to the humanitarian work and social services outreaches of the INC.

These are the very same contribution that the INC has consistently given to the communities of Rizal province and Antipolo City.

We always take pride in saying that there is Rizaleño blood flowing in the veins Ka Eduardo.

After all, his grandfather, the revered Felix Y. Manalo, was born and grew up in what used to be part of an expansive Rizal province – the erstwhile town of Taguig, in that now-famous barangay of Tipas.

In past columns, we wrote about how we marveled at the history of Taguig and other so-called lakeshore towns – the municipalities of Rizal and Laguna provinces that line the shores of Laguna de Bay. We said we found it interesting that these lakeshore towns are the birthplaces and hometowns of some of the outstanding Filipinos who distinguished themselves in the fields of leadership, the visual and musical arts, and public service.

We wondered what it was with the waters of Laguna de Bay which inspired the vision and molded the character of several great Filipinos like the revered Felix Y. Manalo. We said there must be something about the lake which helped these outstanding Filipinos see the greatness of our race and our innate ability to excel.

Their lives inspire us. Their feats make us proud. The work of their lifetime give us a lot of reason to believe in the talent and strength of the Filipino.”

Happy birthday, Ka Eduardo.