MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has appointed a new head of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).

Duterte appointed Baldwin Jallorina as the new PhilMech executive director, replacing officer-in-charge Dionisio Alvindia, who served for more than one year.

Alvindia, however, would remain with the PhilMech as one of its scientists.

The 52-year-old Nueva Vizcaya native has been working with the agency since 1994 as a research analyst and supervising science research specialist.

He also served as team engineer for Regions 4 and 5 under the Department of Agriculture-Grains Production Enhancement Program, technical assistant to the assistant secretary for field operations and the DA focal person for Mindanao.

He was also the zone director for Northern Luzon (post-harvest component) under the Gintong-Ani program of DA from January 2006 to March 2008.

Prior to working with PHilMech, Jallorina was a research assistant at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), another DA-attached agency, from 1990 to 1994 and an operations officer in Agro-Processing and Marketing Project Office of the National Food Authority from 1988 to 1990.

Jallorina is a recipient of the Department of Science and Technology-Engineering for Research and Development for Technology Scholarship Program and recognized as one of the outstanding scholar-graduates with the Award of Academic Excellence in Science.