{"id":385124,"date":"2023-02-10T06:06:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T20:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=385124"},"modified":"2023-02-10T06:06:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T20:06:50","slug":"ex-rep-babauta-named-special-assistant-for-homeland-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/ex-rep-babauta-named-special-assistant-for-homeland-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Rep. Babauta named special assistant for Homeland Security"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_385125\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-385125\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Franklin-Babauta12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-385125\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Franklin-Babauta12-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-385125\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Franklin R. Babauta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Gov. Arnold I. Palacios has appointed former representative Franklin R. Babauta as special assistant for the CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management.<\/p>\n<p>Palacios also appointed businessman Diego M. Sablan as special assistant for Substance Abuse, Addiction, and Rehabilitation Program.<\/p>\n<p>Their appointments do not need Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>Babauta was the Precinct 1 representative in 2020. He served in the 21st Legislature for only about two months to finish the term of then-Rep. Edwin K. Propst, who had resigned as Precinct 1 representative. He served in the House until Jan. 11, 2021. His wife is Sen. Celina R. Babauta (D-Saipan).<\/p>\n<p>Babauta retired from the Department of Public Safety in 2006 with the last rank as deputy commissioner for administration.<\/p>\n<p>In 2007, he moved to Guam and joined the Guam National Guard. He was then deployed to Afghanistan. He retired with a rank of lieutenant colonel in 2015 after serving over 25 years in the U.S. Army, Army Reserves, and Guam National Guard.<\/p>\n<p>Babauta has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He served on Peacekeeping Missions in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Australia.<\/p>\n<p>In protecting the country, Babauta received many awards, including a Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, and NATO Medal.<\/p>\n<p>He graduated from the University of Guam with a Bachelor Science in Criminal Justice and minored in Military Science.<\/p>\n<p>As for Sablan, he is the owner of DM Sablan Holdings Co., LLC Youth Empowerment Solutions CNMI, and Pacific Drug Testing Services. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Saipan and a licensed commercial submarine captain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Arnold I. Palacios has appointed former representative Franklin R. Babauta as special assistant for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":385128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1699],"class_list":["post-385124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-homeland-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}