This government organization was formed after a historical merging of official functions of government institutions. One of its first predecessors is the Philippine Weather Bureau created in 1901 when meteorological, seismological and terrestrial magnetic services of the Manila Observatory were transferred from the Roman Catholic Church to the American Colonial Government. It performed earthquake monitoring in the country and has inherited and maintained the early earthquake catalogue at that time. By 1972, the Philippine Weather Bureau was reorganized under Presidential Decree No. 78 into the
Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). A
United Nations Development Programme-funded project for PAGASA established a twelve-station earthquake monitoring network in the country. In February 1951, Dr. Jose M. Feliciano, Chair of the Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) presented a proposal for the creation of a Commission on Volcanology. The eruption of
Mount Hibok-Hibok in December 1951 and the consequent destruction and loss of lives led to the closer cooperation by the Geology, Seismology, and Volcanology Section, committee on Volcanology of the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, to study volcanoes in the Philippines. This collaboration let to the enactment of Republic Act No. 766 on June 20, 1952 that created the Commission of Volcanology (COMVOL). This Commission was placed under NRCP and its office was initially set up in the College of Liberal Arts in UP Diliman. The seismological arm of PAGASA was officially transferred to PHIVOLC on September 17, 1984 through Executive Order No. 984, renaming the institute as the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology or PHIVOLCS. The NSTA, the umbrella department for PHIVOLCS and PAGASA, became the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in 1987. The technical staff and the 12-station earthquake monitoring network was fully integrated to PHIVOLCS in 1988. PHILVOCS and the
United States Geological Survey collaborated during the
1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Their forecast provided the timely evacuation of military personnel and residents that were affected by the eruption. PHIVOLCS was headed by
Raymundo Punongbayan from 1982 to 2002, and it was headed by Renato U. Solidum Jr. from 2003 to 2023. Dr. Teresito C. Bacolcol was appointed as the new Director and took his oath on January 23, 2023, with Science and Technology Secretary Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. in Quezon City. In April 2025, President
Bongbong Marcos signed a law measure modernizing the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) to improve its technological operational capacity. ==Classification of volcanoes in the Philippines==