The Commission on Appointments (CA) has rejected the ad interim appointment of Civil Service Commissioner Ricardo Saludo for failing to meet the "minimum requirement" for the post.

It was Agusan del Sur Representative Rodolfo "Ompong" Plaza, a member of the House contingent, who moved for the dismissal of Saludo’s appointment during Wednesday deliberations at the Senate.

The CA unanimously approved Plaza’s motion.

"Ang [The] Civil Service Commission trahabo niyan [its function] by nature is a quasi judicial body, which adjudicates cases so to the best interest of the service and of the country, we believe that the minimum requirement should be at least a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines," Plaza told reporters after the deliberation.

"It might be difficult if we will put a chairman who does not understand the law, it will be chaos and we do not want chaos in the Civil Service Commission," he said in Filipino.

Plaza said it was the consensus of the House contingent to reject Saludo’s appointment, which was also confirmed by its Senate counterpart.

The appointment had been approved in the committee level but the decision was altered when it reached the plenary level.

With this rejection by the commission, Saludo can no longer be re-appointed to the same post by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said the lawmaker.

"Once rejected, wala na [that’s it]. Iba yung rejected, iba yung bypass. In the case of bypass, pwede pang i-reappoint, yung rejected hindi na talaga pwedeng i-reappoint ng Presidente [Being rejected is one thing, being bypassed is another. In the case of bypass, you can still be reappointed by the President. Being rejected means you can no longer be rejected by the President]," he further explained.

Aside from lack of the minimum requirement, Saludo’s alleged refusal to meet with politicians was also one reason why he did not get the commission’s nod, said Senate Juan Ponce-Enrile.

"He [Saludo] does not meet the minimum requirement for the office. But over and above that, there are lots of complaints from the members of the commission where [their] requests were not attended to. I understand they were told the chairman of the Commission does not want to meet with politicians," Enrile said in a separate interview.