THE FOUNDATION
Pedro Jorge Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1985 by the National Association of Federal Prosecutors (ANPR) and directed by its members. The Foundation is actively engaged in social responsibility projects and activities.
In 2016, Pedro Jorge Foundation decided to expand its areas of activity and adopt ONU’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to play an important role in combating poverty, eradicating diseases, reducing hunger, generating jobs, empowering women, controlling child mortality and protecting the environment.
MISSION
Our mission is to act primprimarily on two fronts: vocational training and social responsibility.
VISION
Our vision is to celebrate our partnership with organisations and with society, seeking the strengthening of a new culture of mutual assistance. By engaging in actions that care for the planet and for the people, our priority is to create sustainable systems which promote prosperity and peace.
VALUES
Guided by the fundamental principle of solidarity, we’re committed to working ethically, fairly and respecting one another.
OUR PATRON
Born in Maceió on 21 September 1946, Pedro Jorge de Melo e Silva joined the local minor seminary when he was 8 years old. Three years later, at the age of 11, he was transferred to the Benedictines Monastic School in Garanhuns. In 1962, he entered the novitiate of the St Benedict’s Monastery in Olinda and took his vows on 08 December 1964, when he was 16 years old.
Although he left the monastery as a Philosophy graduate when he was 22, he remained profoundly bonded, through his friendships and contributions, with the religious institution where he had also learned French, English, German, Latin and Greek. At this time, he already showed signs of being an excellent pianist and organ player.
He graduated in Law at the Federal University of Pernambuco on 01 December 1972 to then join the Federal Prosecution Service on 03 July 1975 at the age of 28. On 25 May 1977, he was assigned to be the Chief of the Federal Prosecution Service in Pernambuco where he always carried out his duties with vigour and diligence.
In the first half of 1981, a retired Military Police Lieutenant called David Jurubeba, who owned a farm in Pernambuco’s countryside town of Floresta, had a loan application rejected at a local Banco do Brasil branch. Feeling wronged, the Lieutenant reported a fraud scheme that misappropriated millions in funds from the agricultural incentive program PROAGRO.
Imagem: Diário de Pernambuco
According to investigations conducted by auditors at Banco do Brasil and Banco Central, there had been more than 300 irregular loans allocated to manioc plantations with 30% percent of this money granted to people using fake identities and, in 50% percent of the cases, using agreements signed by modest farmers who were unaware they were getting into millions of cruzeiros in debt.
The name given by the media to this story that made national headlines was ‘Manioc Scandal’ and the investigation, that charged 240 people and was 30-volumes long, was assigned to the General Prosecutor Pedro Jorge de Melo e Silva. Amongst those involved, there were local Military Police Officers, a State Deputy and a Town Councillor. On 06 January 1982, Pedro Jorge pressed charges against 19 of those indicted and their belongings were confiscated.
Pedro Jorge had received several death threats, according to Dom Basílio Penido who was his confidant and friend since when he was in seminary. On 03 March 1982, Pedro Jorge was shot six times when leaving a bakery in his home town of Olinda, with three of these shots being at close range. Pedro Jorge died leaving a wife, Maria das Graças Vigas e Silva, and two young daughters, Roberta and Marisa.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The board of directors of Pedro Jorge Foundation is composed by a CEO, the regional prosecutor Michele Rangel de Barros Vollstedt Bastos; a CFO, the prosecutor Marcus Marcelus Gonzaga Goulart; a Project Direcotr, tha prosecutor Anna Paula Coutinho de Barcelos; and a Administrative Director, the retired prosecutor Franklin Rodrigues da Costa.
TEAM
The FPJ's Human Resources is composed by a General Coordinator, Nara Maubrigades; a Financial Assistant, Flávia Rodrigues; and a Projects Assistant, Marcelo Miranda Nunes.