EDITORIAL - Another crucial test

It is true that unless retired archbishop Oscar Cruz names the ranking officials in the Aquino administration that he says are on the take from jueteng operations, his accusations will remain precisely what they are — unsubstantiated claims.

Still, President Aquino cannot just take the allegations sitting down. It is not enough for him to simply challenge Cruz to name names. Cruz is not likely to oblige Aquino. It is not his job to identify the culprits.

Cruz is no stranger to accusations. In fact, almost everytime he appears in the news, it is almost always about some allegation of controversy or anomaly. And he gained prominence in this regard at the expense of former president and now congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Cruz almost made it his personal crusade to go after Arroyo and what he perceived were shenanigans during her administration. He had a heyday firing all sorts of broadsides at her and her government off the cuff, often without benefit of substantiation.

But because Arroyo was already so unpopular at the time, few people felt the need to demand proof or evidence. If somebody said it, that was enough to coat it with a veneer of truth. More so with Cruz, because he was a man of the cloth.

Now Cruz is back, again with serious accusations, and again without sufficient proof or evidence, relying only on the weight of his proposition that those supposedly involved occupy high positions in the Aquino government.

Aquino has responded in kind, daring Cruz to name names. Does this mean he is going to sit on the allegations simply because no evidence has been presented? If Aquino does, then he is no better than his predecessor. Why, he could be worse, considering where he comes from.

The president cannot just gloss over the allegations, any allegation, simply because no proof has been presented. If he is truly serious in his campaign to rid government of crooks, he should take these allegations as a tip. The bigger job is his, not of the tipsters.

The sooner Aquino takes action against the allegations, the better for his presidency, which is already mired in controversies this early, often as a result of decisions that appear fuzzy at best.