An ongoing study on the impact of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo on the South China Sea ecosystem has provided the opportunity to investigate the distribution of deep-sea foraminifera in the central and eastern portions of this area before and after the eruption, The four layers studied which represent the top and bottom of the two Recent beds show that the eruption affected only the cores taken close to the Island of Luzon. The study also shows that the major controls in the distribution of foraminifera in the study area include environmental stability, selective dissolution and water circulation.