TRANSPARENCY AND SOCIAL CONTROL: COMBATING THE USE AND ABUSE OF MUNICIPAL ASSETS WITHOUT BIDDING

Abstract

The principle of transparency in Brazilian government institutions aims to provide society with the means necessary to exercise social control. Our hypothesis is that increased transparency in Marília, São Paulo, has allowed citizens to monitor local public affairs in real time online. We assume that the greater the interest in the topic, the greater the engagement and public discussion. In this sense, our object of study intertwines soccer and politics. It concerns the use and abuse of the municipal stadium without bidding by the Marília Atlético Clube (MAC) soccer team, whose president is Mayor Daniel Alonso 2017-2024). The objectives of this article are: a) to highlight the strength of legislation that guarantees access to information and government transparency in the country; b) to present social control as a daily practice in the local information environment; c) to empirically demonstrate, in light of the legislation, the irregularity of the use of municipal assets without bidding in Marília; and d) to demonstrate its legal consequences for local officials. We conducted exploratory research, analyzed institutional and legal documents, and performed a conceptual analysis. The results obtained were: 1) the verification of the progress of legislation on access to information and transparency; 2) the exercise of social oversight, which made it possible; 3) the identification of the irregular use, according to local legislation, of the municipal stadium by the Municipal Stadium of Marília, SP. The conclusion is that practical social oversight requires legal developments that will prompt the courts to take action against the misdeeds in the municipality of Marília, SP.