The Minister of Education, Milton Ribeiro, released this afternoon (22) a note in which he says that there is no type of favoring in the distribution of funds from the portfolio. According to Ribeiro, the allocation of federal resources follows the budget legislation. “There is no possibility for the minister to determine the allocation of resources to favor or disadvantage any municipality or state”, it says in the text.
The note is a response to a newspaper report Folha de S.Paulo. The publication cites audio in which the minister says he favors city halls of municipalities linked to two pastors friends of President Jair Bolsonaro with resources.
“I also record that the President of the Republic did not ask for preferential assistance to anyone, he only asked that he could receive everyone who came to us, including the people mentioned in the report”, says the minister in the note.
Ribeiro also highlights that, regardless of his religious belief, he maintains a commitment to the secular State. “I emphasize that there is no hypothesis and no budget forecast that makes it possible to allocate resources to churches of any religious denomination”, he adds.
