Rather than presenting our program for the next twelve months, allow me to talk on a subject perhaps of mutual interest to all of us, but a subject which is my first and only love - an insight on Philippine volcanism.

The Philippine lies on westem part of the Circum-Pacific and in this area there are about 220 quatemary active and non-active volcanoes, at least a dozen of which are active in historic times or in solfataric stage, The Philippines consist of several islands as a result of collision of two major lithospheric plates namely, the Southeast Asian and Philippine sea plates, Six (6)major subduction zones appear on these complex volcanic arcs, and three (3) of them are related to active volcanism in historic times: The Manila trench, Negros Trench, and the Philippine Trench. The other subduction zones include the East Luzon Trough and Cotabato Trench. Both trenches became active only recently but they lack volcanism and/or well developed seismic zones. The last major trench is the Sulu Trench which is an extinct arc system.