HOUSE Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said he believes that former President Fidel V. Ramos is dead serious in helping unite the country.

De Venecia, president of the Lakas Christian Muslim Democrats of which former President Ramos is also chairman emeritus, told newsmen that “Ramos is not playing games “and” is dead serious in helping unite the country.

When asked on what he thinks is the agenda of the former President, De Venecia stressed that Mr. Ramos is a “master practitioner of psy-war but at the same time is a major peace-maker.”

On the other hand, he said that the former President may actually be trying to capture the opposition “by aligning himself to be captured by them”.

He recalled the reported meeting of Mr. Ramos, with Senate President Franklin Drilon and former Senator Tito Sotto.

Like de Venecia, Ramos is one of the major proponents of charter change that he hopes would institute a major change in the country’s political system and enable it to move forward at a faster pace.

Many members of the opposition are opposed to charter change, saying that this will only benefit those in the administration. “Possibly, he was actually trying to capture the opposition but he cannot say that to them”, de Venecia said of the former President who is his comprovinciano.

“In the process he (Mr. Ramos) is creating the synthesis. By pushing the thesis and anti-thesis, he’s actually trying to create the synthesis,” the House Speaker said.

De Venecia said as president of the ruling Lakas-CMD, he has the full endorsement of what former President Ramos is doing.

“It is only those without deep-seated conviction who are afraid and now creating new tensions between the President and the former President,” he said.

He called on the people not to worry and just relax in the face of these political developments, a line also being mouthed by Ramos in his media interviews.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has invited former Presidents Ramos and Corazon Aquino along with other leaders of civil society and religious organizations to be members of the Council of State. He said former President Estrada was also invited to attend the meeting of the council but this will all depend on the say-so of the Sandiganbayan which is handling the case of the former President.