Parents : father is Benjamin A. Defensor, a district trial judge and mother is Dimpha Palma Defensor, a math wizard and college dean. She is the eldest of seven children.
Spouse : lawyer Narciso Y. Santiago Jr. of Tarlac, a former Interior and Local Government undersecretary
Children : has 2 children, the youngest died at age 22. She has another two adopted daughters.
Education
Elementary : La Paz Elementary School
High School : Iloilo Provincial National High School
College : University of the Philippines Diliman
Course : Bachelor of Laws
Post Graduate : Master of Laws and Doctor of Law, University of Michigan
Other Courses : Summer Program for Lawyers at Harvard Law School and Oxford University
Career
Professor at the Trinity College (Now Trinity University of Asia) and University of the Philippines
Special Assistant to the Secretary of Justice from 1970 to 1980
Member of the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures from 1977 to 1979
Legal officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1979 to 1980
Regional Trial Court Judge in Quezon City from 1983 to 198
Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation from 1988 to 1989
Secretary of the Department of Agrarian Reform from 1989 to 1991
