MANILA, Philippines?Sen. Manuel Villar said Monday night that he had no intention of facing his accusers in the Senate and would rather go to the people to explain his side in the C-5 road extension controversy.

Villar held a news conference in the Senate, a few hours after the Senate adjourned its session that saw the majority bloc slamming him and calling him a coward for being a no-show.

?I don?t want to speak for now. I don?t want to be dictated upon on when I should speak. No one should tell me what to do,? Villar said in Filipino.

Villar reiterated that he had been explaining his side on the controversy for the past two years. He acknowledged at one point that he was tired of explaining.

He said he had given 100 interviews on the matter, issued pamphlets and even brought the media to the controversial road but the other side ?did not want to listen.?

The senator reiterated that from the start he had boycotted the Senate hearings because he knew he would not be able to get justice there.

He also blamed the Liberal Party for leaking the draft report of the committee of the whole to the media.

Villar, presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party, said his detractors dredged up the two-year-old issue because his showing in surveys was improving.

He also defended his allies who were called by Sen. Jamby Madrigal ?Villar?s Express Choo-choo train.?

The senator said he did not think Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Joker Arroyo, Alan Cayetano and Pia Cayetano were ?choo-choo trains.?