populate triple drop down in ajax and php in a form - php

Question

I have managed to populate my three drop down lists in php and ajax. Here is the one part of my code that displays the three dropdown lists:
<?php
echo "<font id=\"categoria\"><select>\n";
echo "<option value='0'>Select the Firm</option> \n" ;
echo "</select></font>\n";
?>
<?php
echo "<font id=\"subcategoria\"><select>\n";
echo "<option value='0'>Select the Claims Hub</option> \n" ;
echo "</select></font>\n";
?>
<?php
echo "<font id=\"subcategoria2\"><select>\n";
echo "<option value='0'>Select the Area</option> \n" ;
echo "</select></font>\n";
?>
My question is: I also have a form on this pages and i want to make the three dropdown lists part of my form in order to post the values into another mysql table. Any suggestions how i can do this? Here is my form part:
<form method="post" align= "right">
<table >
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td>Select the Matter Type: </td>
<td><?php echo $dropdown; ?></td>
</tr>
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: left; ">Active </td>
<td align="left" >
<input type="checkbox" name="active" value="1" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Add" align= "right" /></td>
</tr>
</table>

Answer 1

Why not just insert them into the html?
<form method="post" align= "right">
<table >
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td>Select the Matter Type: </td>
<td><?php echo $dropdown; ?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<?php echo "<font id=\"categoria\"><select><option value='0'>Select the Firm</option></select></font>";?>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: left; ">Active </td>
<td align="left" >
<input type="checkbox" name="active" value="1" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td> </td>
<tr>
<td> </td>
<td><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Add" align= "right" /></td>
</tr>