LAOAG CITY - A Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) has been formed to fast-track the investigation into the ambush of a village chief and two others in San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte on Oct. 26. Barangay 6 village chief Mark Adrian Barba, who is also the president of the town's Association of Barangay Captains, and his bodyguard Raffy Ulep and driver Lord Wayne Guianne Menor were onboard a gray Toyota Innova on the way home from a cockpit area when they were waylaid by still unidentified assailants at around 2:45 a.m. along the national highway in the town's Barangay 22 San Guillermo. 'We are conducting an extensive investigation on this heinous crime as we are looking at all possible motives,' Ilocos Norte Police spokesperson Major Jephre Taccad said in a briefing Monday. Taccad said they are considering several motives for the killing and continue to gather evidence, but noted that Barba's family members are uncooperative. Police records show that in 2017, Barba was served with a search warrant for loose firearms and had been under the illegal drug watchlist of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). Barba's killing is the second in a week for the town after the death of Barangay 5 village chief Francisco Bagay, who was shot by an unidentified gunman in his garage on Sept. 20. Source: Philippines News Agency