Republic Act 9163, or the National Service Training Program (NSTP), was Congress' answer to the clamor for changes in the ROTC program. Signed into law on January 23, 2002, it removed ROTC as a prerequisite for graduation for all male college students, and substituted it with NSTP. Furthermore, women were no longer exempt from national service -- accomplishment of the NSTP is now a requirement for both genders.

The new program provided all students with two options to ROTC: Literacy Training Service and Civic Welfare Service. Due to the non-military character of the alternative programs, the National Service Reserve Corps was created to accomodate the graduates of these programs. ROTC graduates, on the other hand, went to the Citizen's Armed Force -- in accordance with the provisions of the AFP Reservist Act (R.A. 7077).

Full implementation of the program was scheduled for school year 2002 - 2003.