The National Service Training Program (NSTP), is a civic education and defense

preparedness program students instituted by the Government of the Philippines on 23 January

2002 by virtue of Republic Act 9163, otherwise known as the "National Service Training
Program (NSTP) Act of 2001".

Coverage
Under the NSTP Program, both male and female college students of any baccalaureate
degree course or technical vocational course in public or private educational institutions
are obliged to undergo one of three program components for an academic period of two
semesters. The students, however, are free to choose which particular program
component to take. The three NSTP Program components are:[1]

Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS)

This program component is designed to provide students with activities

contributory to the general welfare and betterment of life of the members of the
community especially those developed to improve social welfare services.

Literacy Training Service (LTS)

This program component is designed to train students in teaching literacy and

numeracy skills to schoolchildren and out-of-school youths. The hope is to
continue learning on a peer - to - peer interaction.

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)

This program component is designed to provide military education and training

for students to mobilize them for national defense preparedness. This is also a
glimpse for young people to see how military life is and encourage them into
service.

Graduates of the ROTC program component are organized into the Citizen Armed
Force, while graduates of the LTS and CWTS program components are organized into
the National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) administered by the Department of
National Defense, the Commission on Higher Education and Technical Education and
Skills Development Authority.

Precedents

President Manuel Quezon controlled the National Assembly which enacted the National
Defense Act of 1935

President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1706 in 1980

There have been several legal precedents to the National Service
Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001. These include:

Commonwealth Act No. 1

Main article: National Defense Act of 1935

Commonwealth Act No. 1, otherwise known as the "National Defense Act", was enacted
by the National Assembly of the Philippines on 21 December 1935. It provided for
obligatory military service for all male citizens of ages between 18 and 30.[2]

Presidential Decree No. 1706

Presidential Decree No. 1706, otherwise known as the "National Service Law", was
signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on 8 August 1980. It made national service
obligatory for all Filipino citizens and specified three categories of national service: civic
welfare service, law enforcement service and military service.[3]

Republic Act 7077

Republic Act 7077, otherwise known as the "Citizen Armed Forces of the Philippines
Reservist Act", was enacted by the 8th Congress of the Philippines on 27 June 1991.
The Reservist Act provided for organization, training and utilization of reservists,
referred to in the Act as "Citizen Soldiers". The primary pool of manpower for the
reservist organization are graduates of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps basic and
advance courses.[4]

Presidential Decree No. 1706

Presidential Decree No. 1706, otherwise known as the "National Service Law", was
signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on 8 August 1980. It made national service
obligatory for all Filipino citizens and specified three categories of national service: civic
welfare service, law enforcement service and military service.[5]

Statistics
According to the Commission on Higher Education, over a ten-year period from 2002-
2012 the CWTS component has produced 10,614,000 graduates, the highest among
the three NSTP components. This is followed by the ROTC component, with 1,435,000
AFP reservists and the LTS component with 538,700 graduates.[6]