 Javier earned his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Cornell University, his master's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and bachelor's degree from the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (now the University of the Philippines Los Baños).Born in Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines, he served as a presidential cabinet member and chair of the National Science Development Board.He worked at The Hague in the Netherlands as senior research fellow for the International Service for National Agricultural Research and went to Taiwan to direct work on vegetable research and development.