THE National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) is evaluating the performance of supply chains during the pandemic and is hoping its findings will guide decision-makers on potential improvements.

In a briefing, Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Spokesperson Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said the task force approved the recommendation of the NEDA “to pursue Supply Chain Regulatory Impact Assessments and to develop the Supply Chain Analysis (SCAN) Dashboard in cooperation with partner agencies and select private entities.”

The enhanced community quarantine imposed on Luzon to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak established a system of checkpoints that have disrupted the flow of goods, according to exporters. The Department of Agriculture (DA) has also needed to issue special passes to truckers hauling food that will allow them to bypass checkpoints, but some shipments have been held up at the local government level, where the exemptions decreed by the national government for exempted goods have sometimes not been honored.

“The outputs of the Regulatory Impact Assessments shall be referred to the IATF as a whole or any of its member agencies and the outputs of the SCAN Dashboard shall be referred to the National Task Force (NTF) COVID-19 for its consideration,” Mr. Nograles added.

According to the second report to Congress issued by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on how the government is using its emergency powers to deal with COVID-19, NEDA was planning to create a national supply chain plan for food, medical supplies, and other urgently-needed goods during the state of calamity.

The report, dated April 6, also said that NEDA is setting up a transport analytics tool to identify supply chain issues that will need to be improved.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia earlier this month said there is a need for a regular review of restrictions imposed on the movement of manufactured goods to ensure supply disruptions are minimized. — Gillian M. Cortez

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