RO: The dismantling of Social Assistance Policy in the Bolsonaro government of Marcos Rocha

Do Luciana Oliveira's Blog - The Covid-19 pandemic exposed how poorly the State Secretariat for Social Assistance and Development, headed by Luana Nunes de Oliveira Santos, wife of Governor Marcos Rocha, is doing.

Organized civil society and the State Council for Social Assistance are demanding that the government commit to management and encourage popular participation, two pillars of public policies aimed at promoting the social assistance rights of vulnerable individuals through the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS).

The Federal Constitution established a three-pronged approach encompassing health, social assistance, and social security. Article 203 of the Constitution establishes the duty to protect the family, from motherhood to old age.

Social assistance has become a right for everyone, regardless of whether or not they have contributed to social security.

Historic achievements include the protection of the family, motherhood, childhood, adolescence, and old age; support for underprivileged children and adolescents; the promotion of integration into the labor market; the habilitation and rehabilitation of people with disabilities and the promotion of their integration into community life; and the guarantee of a minimum monthly benefit for people with disabilities and the elderly who prove they cannot support themselves.

In article 204, the legislator included popular participation as an essential means for formulating policies and monitoring actions in all spheres of government.

The Organic Law of Social Assistance (LOAS) regulated the provisions of these two articles of federal Constitution, establishing principles, guidelines, organization and management, services and financing of Social Assistance.

With the LOAS (Organic Law of Social Assistance) came the National Social Assistance Fund (FNAS) and the parameters for the operation of the Councils, collegiate bodies with representatives from the public sector and civil society.

The state needs to have a Plan, a Council, and a Fund to receive and utilize resources from social programs.

For this entire network of protection for vulnerable people to be integrated and effective, legal principles cannot be relativized, much less violated.

Non-governmental organizations and advisors accuse the state government of corrupting legal instruments through Complementary Law and Decree that compromise the proper functioning of the network.

CEAS smaller and weaker

In December 2019, Governor Marcos Rocha approved the Complementary Law No. 1.052 which amends and adds articles to Law 145/95, which created the State Council for Social Assistance. A setback that compromises the decentralized and participatory nature of the articulation of public policies.

The fatal blow came in March 2020 with the regulation of the Council through Decree 24.903.

Combining the law with the decree reduces the importance of the Councils, as it alters their form and purpose.

In a complaint forwarded to the State Public Prosecutor's Office, which is responsible for ensuring effective respect for the rights established in Law 145 / 95CEAS requests the repeal of articles 21 § 2º, 35 and 36 of Law 1.052, approved in December 2019, which was not reviewed and approved by the council members.

According to the complaints, the changes and additions violate constitutional principles, the Organic Law of Social Assistance (LOAS), and the Social Assistance Fund.

In Law 1.052, Article 21, § 2, separates the Council's deliberations from the decisions of the State Social Assistance Policy Management Body, and Article 35 was modified so that the governor appoints all members.

Article 35. Article 4; the sole paragraph of Article 5; and Article 7 of Complementary Law No. 145, of December 27, 1995, which “Creates the State Council for Social Assistance, the State Social Assistance Fund, and provides other measures”, shall be in force as follows: “Article 4. The State Council for Social Assistance – CEAS, shall be composed of 6 (six) full members and their respective alternates, without party affiliation, appointed by an act of the Governor of the State, with equal representation of Governmental Bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations, for a term of 2 (two) years, with 1 (one) reappointment permitted.

Check the Laws:

14595 Law https://sapl.al.ro.leg.br/media/sapl/public/normajuridica/1995/278/278_texto_integral.pdf

Complementary Law 1052 / 19

http://ditel.casacivil.ro.gov.br/COTEL/Livros/Files/LC1052.pdf

In the Decree, Article 2 reduces the Council from 18 full members to 6, and none of them can have party affiliation.

Article 3, § 2 prohibits the appointment of representatives who are already members of councils, public committees, or committees of public interest, with the exception of professional councils. In practice, this disrupts the network of protection for individuals.

Article 12 reinforces the change in Law 1.052 so that the Council only gives advice and can be ignored by the manager of the Social Assistance policy.

Article 35, § 6, explicitly limits the competence of the council members to mere assistance.

The loss of voice and power to influence SEAS decisions will result in nothing but a loss of rights for the community.        

Representatives from the following institutions have seats on the current Council: SEAS, SEDUC, SESAU, SESDEC, SEPOG, SEJUS, CMAS, EMATER, INSS, CRESS, CRP, OAB, PESTALOZZI, JOCUM, AABB, FEDER, SAM, and FEUSUAS.

This dismantling will further harm the management of Social Assistance Policy and its control through popular participation.

The call for elections for the new Council will be published after June, the deadline stipulated in the government decree. It will be smaller and have weaker popular representation.

The term of office for the current members, which would extend until 2021, will be interrupted.

According to the vice-president of CEAS, Marinilde Helena da Silva Santos, the situation reflects a total disregard by the government for social assistance policy, since the Law and the Decree were not even approved by the collegiate body that unites the voices of the public authorities and society.

“The state’s duty is to strengthen the Council with a democratic stance, expanding, not restricting, popular participation. What we will have in practice is a kind of technical group without the power to truly interfere in government actions. The local government is transferring the federal government’s stance of disregarding social control exercised by many for the benefit of the community,” said Marinilde, who is the INSS representative on the CEAS.

Secretariat used as a source of patronage jobs.

"We're cleaning house so that our department can operate leaner, because the machine needs to work, but it doesn't need to be bloated. That will be our first priority."

That's what the governor's wife promised when she took office as head of the department.

What happened after 18 months was exactly the opposite.

A complaint against Luana was filed with the State Court of Auditors due to an excessive number of appointed positions filled by people without the necessary technical qualifications.

The document is signed by the Maria dos Anjos Center for the Defense of Children and Adolescents, the Archdiocese of Porto Velho, the Kanindé Ethno-environmental Defense Association, three social workers, four sociologists, and a representative from the Human Rights Council.

Of the 168 employees at SEAS, 133 are appointed to commissioned positions, equivalent to 79% of the entire staff.

According to the complaint, there are multiple irregularities in the contracting process, violating constitutional norms, precedents from the Court of Auditors, and jurisprudence from the Supreme Federal Court.

What is at stake is the principle of efficiency, with the appointment of unqualified people, to the detriment of social workers and sociologists.

They are urgently requesting that a public competition be held to fill positions within the department.

And also:

a) The prohibition of appointing any occupant of a commissioned position, except those provided for in specific laws (such as the Law of the State Mechanism for the Prevention and Combat of Torture) by the Secretary of State or whoever replaces her, under penalty of a fine for each new appointment;

b) The determination to expedite the hiring process, through public competition, of public servants, including social workers and sociologists, for SEAS/RO, under penalty of a fine for non-compliance;

c) replacement of all non-tenured appointed officials who are performing functions that deviate from those stipulated by the Federal Constitution in its article 37, item V, with civil servants/persons legally authorized to perform the essential activities, with qualifications in accordance with the aforementioned Laws, and such replacement must be made possible in the best legal manner that suits the needs and possibilities of the agency through a public competitive examination;

In the medium and long term, they ask for:

d) Regulation of the duties of appointed positions within SEAS/RO, based on technical studies and diagnoses, including public hearings, observing the legal precepts of the duties of social workers and/or sociologists;

e) Filling positions through public competitive examinations for at least 50% of the total positions in the department, in accordance with precedents set by the Court of Auditors;

f) Determination of legislative or administrative regulations regarding the minimum percentage of those appointed positions to be held by career civil servants, which must be at least 50% of the number of appointed positions at SEAS;

The complaint also requests recognition of the irregularities and the application of penalties to Luana Rocha.

g) Holding the Secretary accountable for any act of administrative misconduct in appointing, maintaining, and/or failing to dismiss 133 commissioned employees in violation of the constitutional rule of public competitive examination, with the application of a punitive fine and recognition of a serious offense, in accordance with the Internal Regulations of the TCE/RO (Court of Accounts of the State of Rondônia);

h) The Secretary's liability for any act of administrative misconduct resulting from non-compliance with Laws 8.662 (Social Worker Law) and 6.888 (Sociologist Law), for not having hired professionals with the legally required qualifications for the core activities of SEAS/RO;

Until the complaints are investigated, the fear only grows that state aid to vulnerable people will worsen, deepening inequalities due to the pandemic.

CEAS's plea for help to the Public Prosecutor's Office has been pending for four months.

The role of non-governmental organizations is recent, but no less urgent.

“The expectation is that the oversight bodies can act as quickly as possible to guarantee the full management and social control of social assistance policy. We count on the support of the entire society so that social assistance rights are not harmed by ineffectiveness and loss of social participation in the formulation of public policies,” said the representative of CEAS, Carlos Henrique.

BLO tried to contact Secretary Luana Rocha, but was unable to do so before the publication of this report.