Saving small businesses and ensuring food supply in a pandemic

AS we have experienced firsthand, the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has quickly turned from a health crisis into a humanitarian and economic crisis. The strict implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) has broken our food supply chain and threatens to dislocate millions of people employed by micro, small and medium enterprises.

To lessen the negative economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on small businesses, farmers, fishermen and consumers, the government enacted the Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the “Bayanihan Heal as One Act.” To ensure the implementation of the law and continuous food production, the Departments of Labor and Employment, Trade and Industry (DTI), Agriculture (DA), Finance, Budget and Management and Interior and Local Government issued Joint Memorandum Circular 1, series of 2020, that provides guidelines to freeze prices of certain commodities and provide livelihood assistance through programs, cash, loan assistance and moratorium on loans.