Road spike 'attack' disrupts Erap motorcade in Caloocan

MANILA, Philippines – A campaign motorcade led by Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino presidential bet Joseph “Erap” Estrada in Caloocan City was disrupted by an alleged “road spike attack” on Saturday afternoon, various reports said.

Estrada’s motorcade was making the rounds in Caloocan City when unidentified persons lobbed road spikes (reportedly made of nails) in the convoy's path.

As a result, the parade, which started at around 3 p.m. on March 27, was "slowed down."

Save for a motorcycle escort, most of the vehicles in Estrada’s convoy were able to veer away from the spikes.

Estrada's team reacted to the incident in their official Twitter and Facebook pages, claiming the attack was launched by "political opponents."

"It is sad that the political opponents are resorting to dirty tactics already. Maybe they can already sense that the Erap bandwagon is slowly becoming a reality," the team stated on social networking site Facebook.

They also claimed that several vehicles, not just one as reported in ABS-CBN News reports, got flat tires because of the road spikes.

Continued campaigning

Despite the incident, Estrada’s campaign pushed through. The former president continued greeting his supporters and giving away campaign freebies like calendars, candies, caps and t-shirts.

The PMP standard-bearer was campaigning in the area with election hopefuls Luis “Baby” Asistio and Rey Malonzo.

"Team Erap" stands to gain as much as 1 million votes in Caloocan City.

Estrada supported the newly launched local campaign of former city mayors Asistio and Malonzo, who are challenging the city's incumbent mayor Enrico Echiverri and vice mayor Luis Varela, respectively.

Echiverri is supporting rival Liberal Party presidential bet Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

Estrada has been lagging at 3rd place in national election surveys behind front-runners Aquino and Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista party. With reports from ABS-CBN News.