President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed William Dar as acting secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said on Monday.

Dar replaced Emmanuel Pinol who is moving to the Mindanao Development Authority.

Duterte earlier said he wants Pinol to be the next MinDA chief to be his point person with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Dar served as agriculture secretary and presidential adviser for food security and rural development in 1998 to 1999 during the presidency of Joseph Estrada.

He was also director general of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, from 1999 to 2014.

According to his biography, he specialized in horticulture, receiving his doctoral degree from the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna.

Medialdea also confirmed the appointment of Court of Appeals Justice Rodil Zalameda to the Supreme Court.

Zalameda has replaced Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last July. Celerina Monte/DMS