Give Angelito Alvarez a chance to prove his worth as Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner whose main job is to collect revenues for the cash-strapped government, Sen. Jose ‘Jinggoy’ Estrada said Tuesday.

Estrada gave this assessment on the capability of Alvarez to run the government’s second biggest revenue collection agency although Alvarez is now under fire because of allegations that he cheated in a golf tournament at Alabang Country Club last February.

“Siguro coincidence lang na nagkaroon ng dayaan. Pero bigyan natin ng pagkakataon si Lito Alvarez na ipakita ang kanyang kakayahan.

At kailangan lahat na tinatarget niya para sa ating gobyerno ay dapat gampanan niya,’’ he said. (Probably the alleged cheating was a mere coincidence during that golf tournament. But let’s give Alvarez the chance to prove his worth. We wish him well that he could collect the revenue targets he has set to collect for the government.)

“Yes, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. It is unfair to link the alleged misdemeanor in that golf game with his work as head of a revenue collection agency,’’ he said.

Estrada said during a radio interview that he has known Alvarez since 1998 when they were together in a basketball team and that he knows Alvarez has the capability to run the BoC.

In basketball, body contact is normal and the scores are publicly recorded. In golf, the player, though he is in a regulation flight of four players, really plays against himself and he lists down his scores or signs his score card. Golf is considered a gentleman’s game.

Earlier, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said President Benigno Simeon ‘’Noynoy’’ Aquino III should revoke Alvarez’s appointment if he really cheated because ‘’honesty is a very important criteria for appointment to any government position, much more at Customs.’’