(Editor?s note: This is to correct an earlier post from the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Brother Eraño Manalo?s wife is dead. We regret the error.)

MANILA, Philippines?(UPDATE) Brother Eraño Manalo served as executive minister of Iglesia ni Cristo following the death of his father, INC founder Felix Y. Manalo, in 1963.

Known as ?Ka Erdy? among INC followers, Eraño led the expansion of the INC not only in the country but also overseas. Under his leadership, INC started its missions abroad in 1968 and has grown the number of its members ever since.

Also under him, the INC started to make use of its media agencies extensively to propagate its mission to spread God's word.

In the 2000 census, the National Statistics Office put the INC membership in the country at 1.8 million or around 2.3 percent of the total population.

Eraño was born on January 2, 1925, the fifth child of the late INC founder and Honorata De Guzman.

Ka Erdy was married to the Cristina Villanueva and had six children.