Senator Benigno Simeon ‘’Noynoy’’ Aquino III on Wednesday dared his embattled presidential rival, Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar, to defend himself according to his own merits and not to disparage “the untarnished memory of a national hero.’’

Aquino fired the broadside against Villar who had cited the refusal of Aquino’s father, the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., to attend a military tribunal created by President Marcos during the martial law period as similar to his case before the 23-member Senate.

While allies were defending Villar, the Senate majority bloc led by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had been criticizing him for his refusal to attend past hearings by the Senate Committee of the Whole and to appear in the Senate regular session to refute the committee findings that found him guilty of unethical conduct in connection with the controversial C-5 road project.

The committee report had split the Senate, triggering tension among its members who, at times, have let loose defamatory statements against one another.

“In the case of Ninoy, he was tried for his opposition to authoritarian and repressive rule, even in the face of certain death, while Villar is being asked to answer serious corruption charges and unethical conduct where the penalties are censure and retribution, a far cry from the death penalty imposed on Ninoy,’’ the young Aquino said.

Aquino said his father was tried by a kangaroo court that was subject to the whims of a dictator, while Villar was accorded every opportunity to defend himself in a democratic and transparent process which he repeatedly ignored.

“There is simply no comparison; Ninoy is a hero. Villar is nothing but a coward,’’ he said.

Stressing that he has not done anything wrong, Villar had refused to attend the past public hearings. He stressed that the committee of the whole was a ‘’kangaroo court.’’

Senator Joker Arroyo, a member of the minority bloc with Villar as a member, earlier declared that “senators are all guilty’’ and must share the blame for the C-5 issue as the 2009 national budget that authorized the funding for the road project, was approved by the Senate several times. Arroyo said the particular item appropriating funds for extending the C-5 road as a ‘’toll-free’’ road drew no objection from senators as the budget advanced through the Senate legislative mill.

He traced the paper trail of the budget bill from the approval by the Senate finance committee to the Senate’s ratification of the bicameral conference committee report, which hammered out the final version of the bill before it was sent to President Gloria Arroyo for approval.