Sato attended St. Theresa's College where she attained a BA Major in Political Science in 1973 where she was included at her college's dean's list. She also attended University of the Philippines where she graduated as a Bachelor of Laws and top 14 among her graduating batch in 1978.[3]
In 1988, Sato was elected as vice governor of Occidental Mindoro until 1992. After her term as vice governor, she was elected as governor for three consecutive terms (1992–1995, 1995–1998, 1998–2001). She then served her first term as congresswoman at the House of Representatives from 2001–2004 and was barred by law to run for a fourth consecutive term. After Sato's first term as congresswoman, she again served for three consecutive terms as governor of her province (2004–2007, 2007–2010, 2010–2013). Then after her sixth term as governor, she was again elected as congresswoman of Occidental Mindoro.[3]
In 2015, she was appointed as secretary general of the Liberal Party.[4]
In 2022, she filed her candidacy for governor in the 2022 Occidental Mindoro local elections. She lost to Eduardo Gadiano after only garnering 92,208 votes.