“When there is unity, there is always victory,” said Publilius Syrus, an ancient Roman writer.

Swimming unity is in the horizon after Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Ricky Vargas made a statement that he is all for inclusive tryouts for the national swimming team under the supervision of the Philippine Swimming Institute (PSI), the duly recognized federation for swimming.

That is exactly what the legal PSI is hoping for — an all-inclusive national swimming election with both the new and old members being able to vote

Coincidentally, the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) also made an announcement that it had relaxed the application of their General Rule 4 (GR4), or better known as the “Unauthorized Relations” rule.

Basically, GR4 states that no affiliated member shall have any kind of relationship with non-affiliated or suspended swimming organizations.

The announcement brought hope that swimming in the Philippines will finally be unified because FINA declared that: “participation in competitions of non-affiliated organizations shall not be characterized as relations and shall not be given sanctions.”

Just a little backgrounder: This “unauthorized relations” rule had caused so much divisiveness in the swimming community that thousands of swimmers had been disenfranchised since it was placed by the PSI from the time of former president Mark Joseph until the leadership of Lailani Velasco.

They continue to — as a matter of fact for years now — include in all their swimming activities this stern warning that “according to FINA GR4, any unauthorized relations shall not be allowed to participate and shall be suspended.”

But with this latest FINA ruling, it is time for them to remove this warning in all the invitations.

Imagine a decade of divisiveness from the group of Philippine Swimming League of former Sen. Nikki Coseteng and coach Susan Papa to state colleges and universities all the way to regional swimming associations all over the country. Most of them do not have enough money to fulfill the excessive membership fee required by the PSI.

The timeliness of the move of the Securities and Exchange Commission-recognized PSI board of trustees with Ral Rosario, Carlos Brosas, Eduardo Ledesma, Louie Mangahis and other members to open the period of registration for free to all current members and all new members that have been disenfranchised and excluded.

I see the joy in their eyes when they are in the water, but that joy is quickly replaced by fear that they may never ever get the chance to compete again.

Add to that the holding of national tryouts of the national swimming team, which is mandated in the by-laws of the PSI and is something that the swimming community has been waiting for.

With this, when Ral and the PSI board of trustees conduct the national tryouts, all swimmers, no matter what the affiliation is, will be accepted and allowed to participate.

Without prejudice to the welcome gesture of Mr. Vargas that he is in favor for the all-inclusive national tryouts, the question of true leadership of the PSI remains.

It is still an option to settle the issue in intra-corporate court as suggested by Mr. Vargas last November and Ral and his board of trustees have the legal advantage via the virtue of their SEC papers.

But with the recent pronouncement of Mr. Vargas that he will “take care of resolving the divisiveness that’s setting back the sport,” and maybe in three months this will all be sorted out for the good of swimming.”

This statement is what the swimming community is holding on.

It is the hope of thousands of excluded swimmers and clubs that Mr. Vargas gives them a voice in an all-inclusive national swimming election supervised by the POC to determine, once and for all, a leader that will have the full support and mandate of the swimming community.

That is exactly what the legal PSI is hoping for — an all-inclusive national swimming election with both the new and old members being able to vote.

I have spoken to Ral and his board of trustees a lot of times and they have been very clear that once everyone has been included and accounted for, they will call for an immediate election with the hope that POC will recognize the newly elected PSI officials.

They also gave their word that whoever wins the election will have the full support of his group and everybody is welcome to run — even Mrs. Velasco.

It is their belief that through this, they will end the divisiveness in swimming.

I cannot help but be proud of my former coaches, Ral and Carlos, for being so determined to see this for the good of all of the disenfranchised swimmers.

I was once like those swimmers before and to see them aimlessly wondering if and when they will finally get their shot at the national team is very hard to witness and I cannot accept, if I may be so honest.

I see the joy in their eyes when they are in the water, but that joy is quickly replaced by fear that they may never ever get the chance to compete again. No swimmer should ever experience that and maybe with this move of Mr. Vargas and the decision of FINA to relax its rule, this knot that I feel will cease to exist.