Two reviewers from the project judging committee, known as de, handed over their positions in November and sent messages pointing out unequal criteria in the analysis of projects and a lack of respect for the rules of the selection notice.
Internally, according to the Panel, discussions were held in recent months regarding the favoring of some projects to the detriment of others based on interventions by the program coordination, without justification supported by guidelines in the notice or Promac regulations.
In a note, the management’s Secretariat of Culture () states that Promac “continues to comply with the law and the guidelines of the notice, striving for the principle of equity, in a transparent manner”, without any form of favoritism.
The ministry also says that the dismissal of reviewers happens as in any other professional relationship, whether on their initiative or the public administration.
Like the Rouanet Law, Promac works through tax waivers and allows businesspeople and individuals to direct up to 20% of IPTU (Urban Property and Land Tax) and ISS (Service Tax) to cultural initiatives in the capital.
The Promac judging committee is responsible for defining a limited number of proponents who will be able to seek investors to finance their artistic and cultural projects.
According to the column, the current coordination of the program, which is part of the management of Ricardo Nunes’ Secretariat of Culture, has received criticism from those involved with Promac regarding the possible favoritism of some proponents.
In September, for example, the publication of a list of approved proponents generated controversy internally by including the “Ballet Paraisópolis” project and justifying it through “discretionary competence” of the coordination, which could, according to the text, “evaluate exceptional situations, not expressly foreseen in the legislation, but which require different treatment due to their social, cultural impact or urgency”.
Last month, reviewers Fernanda Rodrigues and Eduardo Kishimoto announced that they were leaving the program through critical messages.
In her text sent to the commission, Fernanda wrote that her departure was due to “divergence of understanding regarding alignment with the guidelines of the notice and the legislation that governs it”
“I have noticed the adoption of expanded interpretations of clauses in the notice, as well as guidelines so that we do not adhere to specific sections of the normative text, which, in my understanding, compromises the technical clarity and coherence of the evaluation process”, he wrote.
“I understand that the current conduct and direction of management have, unfortunately, mischaracterized the essence and principles of a program so relevant to the city of São Paulo, which has always been based on transparency, equity and respect for legal and technical parameters”, he added.
Kishimoto, in turn, stated that he was leaving the judging committee “due to the adoption of unequal criteria in the analysis of projects, the lack of respect for the rules of the notice — ethical issues that seem non-negotiable to me, and that undermine the democratic function of this important incentive law”.
Promac is the restructuring of the Mendonça Law, created in 1990 by the then mayor and now federal deputy Luiza Erundina. In 2013, the program was standardized by the administration of Fernando Haddad (current Minister of Finance) and, in December 2017, .
In 2019, Promac was managed by (PSDB) in the vacuum left by the strangulation of the Rouanet law by the government (PL).
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