By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

SPEAKER Oscar M. Babauta’s father has died of complications from diabetes.
Vicente Babauta, a former deputy director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. on Rota, passed away on Sunday night at the age of 75.
Speaker Babauta, Covenant-Saipan, the oldest of seven siblings, said their mother, Rita Manglona Babauta, 76, is deeply saddened by the death of her husband “but she remains strong.”
The speaker described his father as a fighter and one who never lost hope in the face of the toughest adversity. “I think my fondest memory of him is how he would tell us, his children, to love one another. He was strong. He would always tell us there was no problem without a solution.”
The Babauta family is holding 6 p.m. nightly rosaries at the San Antonio church and burial is scheduled for Monday of next week.
The session of the House of Representatives today was put on hold.