Arthur "Art" Doligosa Defensor Sr. (born December 25, 1941) is a Filipino politician and a statesman who served as the governor of Iloilo from 1992 until 2001, and again from 2010 until 2019.

His name has become synonymous with good governance while his extensive and distinguished political career has never been tarnished with accusations of wrongdoings and misconduct.

In 1986, after the People Power Revolution, he was appointed by President Corazon C. Aquino as Undersecretary of the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports.

As chief executive, he gave top priority to reforestation, agricultural productivity programs, and infrastructure development.

This time, he authored or co-authored 130 House Bills, including the law prohibiting the imposition of the death penalty in the Philippines.

In 2010, he returned to the Capitol to again serve the people of the Province of Iloilo as governor under the platform of "Reform and Change" where he introduced measures that ensured transparency and honest governance.

Defensor also made the Province of Iloilo a consistent winner in the Annual DILG Excellence in Local Governance (EXCELL) Awards, winning major awards since 2011 and was capped by being cited as the Most Outstanding Local Government Unit, Provincial Category, in 2015.

Also in 2015, the DILG also conferred the Province of Iloilo with the "Seal of Good Local Governance Award" which allowed it to access the P7-Million Performance Challenge Fund of the department.

Last year (2016), the Province of Iloilo was likewise conferred with the "Seal of Good Local Governance Award" for the third time.

Governor Defensor's flagship environment program, Action for Regreening and Transformation for Climate Change Adaptation (ART for CCA), which aims to plant millions of trees, has gained widespread support from various sectors, and was also cited by the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for its great contribution to the National Greening Program.

His campaign to protect and preserve the Visayan Sea, the country's richest fishing ground, earned for the governor an Award of Recognition from the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE), a global network of environmental compliance and enforcement practitioners based in Washington D.C., United States of America.

On June 29, 2016, he received the Kalikasan Award from the DENR "for his exemplary and dauntless commitment to champion environmental governance, protection and rehabilitation in the Province of Iloilo."