(Eagle News) — Panama’s Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Rolando Guevara Alvarado on Wednesday (July 5) visited Iglesia Ni Cristo Central Office in Quezon City, as he made a courtesy call to INC Executive Minister Brother Eduardo V. Manalo, becoming the first Latin American ambassador to visit the INC main office.
The ambassador said he was “overwhelmed” with the warm welcome he received at the INC Central Office, where people waved flaglets of Panama after his meeting with Brother Eduardo.
“Thank you very much for having this opportunity. For me, as the first Latin American ambassador to visit the Iglesia Ni Cristo and Executive Minister Mr. Manalo, I’m really pleased and really overwhelmed for this welcome,” Ambassador Guevara said.
The ambassador said that he was also “highly impressed” with his visit to the INC main office, as he learned more about the Church that had also established locales in his country, and had recently even conducted various “Aid to Humanity” events in Latin America, particularly Panama and Brazil.
“My visit to Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) now is opening more my understanding of how the Iglesia Ni Cristo works. We have in Panama a small congregation of the Iglesia Ni Cristo and we hope that with this visit, there will be an opportunity to enhance and expand the relationship of this religious community,” he said.
The Iglesia Ni Cristo local congregations in Panama are in Ciudad de Panama, Valle Hermon, Villa Grecia and Cobre.
After Ambassador Guevara’s visit to the INC Central Office, he also visited the New Era University (NEU) where he was also given a warm welcome by faculty and students.
He said he was “highly impressed with what the Iglesia Ni Cristo and New Era University is doing in the context of education and all the things that matters in the Philippines.”
The Panamanian Ambassador said he was also open to exploring “areas of cooperation in the education system.”
His visit was also considered “serendipitous” as the Church would be celebrating the fourth anniversary of its registration in the Republic of Panama next week. It was on July 10, 2013 that the INC was first registered in Panama.
Aside from this, INC minister Joel San Pedro also said that the Church conducted an “International Aid to Humanity” in Panama last February 17 where around 200 Panamanian citizens benefited from the goodwill distribution of food, and health goods, among other things.
San Pedro praised the Ambassador for being warm, open and friendly, and thanked him for his visit.
“So we see here a great potential for not only stronger ties but also for the growth of Iglesia Ni Cristo,” he said.
“We see here an opportunity for the Iglesia Ni Cristo to share the good news with their beautiful country, as well as sharing our help with our fellowmen, with Panama as the starting point of many other countries in Latin America, especially next year as the Iglesia Ni Cristo gears toward the 50th anniversary of its mission in the West,” San Pedro said.
Ambassador Guevara also welcomed this, and said he was also looking forward to his country having stronger and friendly ties with the INC, and even hoped the Church’s humanitarian activities would also expand in other Central American countries.
He said Panama had a “very good impression” of the INC, especially after its “International Aid to Humanity” in his country on February 17.
He also extended his advance greetings for the 103rd anniversary of the Iglesia Ni Cristo on July 27.
“As ambassador of the Republic of Panama to the Philippines, I would like to greet you, the Iglesia Ni Cristo, for the commemoration of your 103rd celebration. I think you are doing a terrific job in the Philippines and I hope you continue with this trait,” he said.
