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Diesel, kerosene price hike highest this year

OIL COMPANIES will be raising this week the prices of diesel products by P1.20 per liter (/L), the biggest increase so far this year. They will also be increasing the cost of gasoline by P0.70/L. Kerosene will climb by P0.90 per liter, also the biggest rise so far this and matching the same price hike on the second week of April this year. For most of the retailers, the price hike will start at 6:00 a.m. today, July 11. The increase follows last week’s rise of P0.70/L for diesel, P0.30/L for gasoline, and P0.55 for kerosene. As in previous advisories, the oil companies said the increase reflects movements of oil prices in the international market. This month’s two straight weeks of increase follows June’s four consecutive weeks of rollbacks. — Victor V. Saulon

Five more teams make NCAA Season 93 debut

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Reporter

DAY Three of Season 93 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) happens today with five more teams making their men’s basketball debut.

Slated at the San Juan Arena, the curtain-raiser at 12 noon will see the University of Perpetual Help Altas taking on the College of St. Benilde Blazers followed by the tiff between the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers and Lyceum of the Philippines Pirates at 2 p.m. Capping seniors play for the day is the tussle of Colegio de San Juan Letran Knights against Mapua University Cardinals at 4 p.m.

Beginning a new NCAA year sans key stalwart of seasons past Bright Akhuetie, Perpetual Help is expected to bank on a veteran crew.

Finished with an 11-7 record and was on track to upend eventual champion San Beda College in the Final Four in Season 92, Perpetual Help saw its program absorb a huge blow when Akhuetie decided to leave the school in the offseason and join the University of the Philippines over at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

With Akhuetie gone, Perpetual Help is turning to its other Nigerian player, Prince Eze, to lead the charge and possibly duplicate their Final Four finish last season or even better it.

To help Eze, the Altas made sure to keep its core of players, which includes AJ Coronel, Gab Dagangon, JG Ylagan, Keith Pido, Flash Gordon Sadiwa and Jack Hao, intact.

These were the same players, along with Akhuetie then, that helped the Altas be a top-half staple team in the standings last year.

Despite the struggles they are expecting to encounter along the way this season, the Altas made it known they are determined to overcome them by taking it a step at a time.

The College of St. Benilde, for its part, is out to improve on the showing it had last year where they finished with a measly 1-17 record.

New coach TY Tang said that for Season 93 it is all about repositioning themselves and taking on a new mind-set towards being competitive anew.

“Ending up with a 1-17 record, everybody has to step up. Everybody has to collaborate. To change the environment, we have to start from us,” Mr. Tang, a former UAAP and Philippine Basketball Association player, said.

“We want to be competitive immediately, in the sense that we want our opponents to know that when they face us it won’t be an automatic win. We hope also that we can reach the Final Four,” the CSB coach added.

In the second game, JRU, which narrowly missed the Final Four last season, looks to begin its bounce-back campaign with a win over Lyceum, which many consider as the dark horse in the ongoing tournament.

Explosive guard Teytey Teodoro is expected to lead the Vergel Meneses-coached Heavy Bombers anew with help from guys like Ervin Gorospe and Gio Lasquety.

Over at Lyceum, the Pirates made solid waves in the preseason which they hope to build on in Season 93.

“It has always been our vision to have a winning culture in Lyceum. We’re not yet there but we are on our way. We welcome the challenge as a dark horse and we will control what we can control and let’s see where it leads us,” said Lyceum coach Topex Robinson, whose team has not finished better than sixth place since joining the league in 2011.

For Letran, meanwhile, it said it hopes to perform better this time around after failing in its title-retention bid last year that saw it fail to make it to the semifinals altogether.

Rey Nambatac is back as the leader of the Knights, which nearly saw its Season 93 put in jeopardy after key cogs JP Calvo and Bong Quinto thought of bolting the team in the lead-up to the tournament. The two players had a change of heart and are back with the Muralla-based team.

Letran looks to win its opener against Mapua, which lost on opening day last Saturday, 91-82, to the Arellano Chiefs.

30 years on, U2 still find relevance in The Joshua Tree

LONDON — Irish rock group U2 kicked off the European leg of The Joshua Tree tour on Saturday by returning to the album that tackled their love-hate relationship with America and propelled them to superstardom when it was released 30 years ago.

NFA assures no spoiled rice being distributed in calamity-stricken areas

THE NATIONAL Food Authority (NFA) has assured that they distribute good quality rice to calamity victims. “The NFA is an advocate of food safety as well as good warehouse-keeping practices. It will never issue spoiled rice to calamity victims because I have this standing instruction among all our field offices to issue only the best quality rice for relief operations,” NFA Administrator Jason Laureano Y. Aquino said in a statement yesterday. The state-run grains agency was responding to news reports that some evacuees from Marawi City experienced stomach pain after eating what they claim as spoiled rice included in the relief goods distributed to them in Iligan City. Relief goods are also being shipped out to Leyte, which was struck by a 6.5-magnitude earthquake on July 7. — Janina C. Lim

Revived Spider-Man gives Sony much-needed win

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, Sony Corp.’s second reboot of the Marvel superhero series, led the North American box office as expected in its weekend debut, marking the first No. 1 opening for the studio this year.

The film, part of a production deal with Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel unit, garnered an estimated $117 million in sales in US and Canadian theaters, researcher ComScore, Inc. said Sunday in an e-mail. The picture scored the second-biggest debut in the Spider-Man series and was Sony’s second-largest opening ever, according to researcher Box Office Mojo.

Homecoming, co-produced by Marvel Entertainment president Kevin Feige, gives Sony Pictures a much-needed hit after a string of disappointments. The Culver City, California-based studio has languished in seventh place this year in domestic box-office receipts — a lowly spot the studio hasn’t occupied since 2000 — in part because it lacks big titles to compete with Disney and Warner Bros.

“It’s as important as any film they have released in the past 10 years,” said Jeff Bock, senior box-office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. about Spider-Man: Homecoming. “It is the last major franchise they have.”

After starting 2017 with a $1-billion write-off and the departure of Michael Lynton, who led the Tokyo-based company’s US film, TV and music businesses, Sony’s entertainment unit needs to start making hit films again. Last year’s Ghostbusters revival failed and was followed by disappointments including the star-studded Passengers. Rothman, 62, came in more than two years ago after a hacking scandal toppled former studio chief Amy Pascal.

Kazuo Hirai, chief executive officer of the Tokyo-based parent company, has shaken up management, appointing new executives to lead Sony Entertainment and the film division. The studio has several more movies related to Spider-Man in the works.

Homecoming marks Sony’s third series with the Marvel character. Tobey Maguire starred as the webslinger in three films starting in 2002. Andrew Garfield took over the role in 2012 with limited success. His last movie, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, didn’t rate well with critics and generated the lowest sales of all the films. It also cost $265 million to make.

In Homecoming, 21-year-old Tom Holland takes on the role of the mutant high-schooler. His first appearance in last year’s Disney Marvel movie Captain America: Civil War sparked excitement for the full-length feature from Sony. That film tied Spider-Man into a storyline that has been rolled out over several of Disney’s Marvel pictures.

Robert Downey, Jr. reprises his popular take on Tony Stark/Iron Man, who has recruited Peter Parker/Spider-Man as a supposed intern. Instead of focusing on his school projects and friends, Parker tracks down a group of thieves led by the villain Vulture, played by Michael Keaton, and gets in over his head.

Critics liked the new movie, giving it 94% positive reviews, according to aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.

Sony was predicting an $80-million North American debut for Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was the week’s only new film in wide release. Analysts such as BoxOfficePro.com projected a three-day haul of $122 million, while Hollywood Stock Exchange forecast $117.9 million. Box Office Mojo had the lowest estimate at $110 million.

MARVEL’S ROLE
For this go-round, Sony turned to Walt Disney Co., recruiting the president of its successful Marvel division, Kevin Feige, as a producer. The company agreed to weave Spider-Man into a larger Marvel storyline featuring many superheroes, while Disney won rights to use the character in movies of its own. Disney retained merchandising rights and could benefit from toy sales linked to the movie.

And costs have come down: the budget for the new film was $175 million, according to Sony.

“It was very much run like a Marvel Studios production,” Feige told reporters in April.

Its success would put future Sony superhero films on firmer ground. These include a 2018 release based on the character Venom, featuring Tom Hardy, along with an animated Spider-Man. The studio also plans a feature with female leads based on Black Cat and Silver Sable. As part of the deal with Disney, Feige will produce a Spider-Man sequel due out in 2019. Pascal, a producer on Spider-Man: Homecoming, will be part of that effort, too.

The new Spider-Man continues a story introduced in last year’s Disney movie Captain America: Civil War, which brought in $1.15 billion in worldwide. It will extend through next year’s Infinity Wars and possibly another Avengers movie.

SONY’S SLATE
While stuck in seventh place, Sony has had a modest success this year with the heist movie Baby Driver and could have a hit with the The Emoji Movie, due July 28. The first of a new series of Stephen King adaptations, featuring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in the Dark Tower, is scheduled for next month. Other remakes are also on the horizon, such as Flatliners and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

And the studio is contending for future rights to the James Bond movie series. Sony generated $3.17 billion in worldwide box-office sales with the previous four spy films, going back to 2006’s Casino Royale.

With parent Sony Corp.’s diverse businesses spanning electronics and video games, as well an entertainment, a single movie won’t make or break the company. But “they really need a win here,” said Paul Sweeney, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

To compete in the global film market, Sony will “have to have a recurring number of tentpole franchises that you can bring out every year,” Sweeney said. “Two or three bankable franchises that you can go back to every couple years and you try to get lucky with some of the other ones.” — Bloomberg

Global, Kaya give selves boost with PFL wins

GLOBAL Cebu FC and Kaya FC-Makati made it a winning Sunday in the Philippines Football League (PFL), defeating their respective opponents to pad their spots in the standings.

Global, playing on its home field of Cebu City Sports Complex for the second straight time, was a 3-0 winner over Stallion Laguna FC on Sunday night while earlier in the day Kaya downed host San Miguel Davao Aguilas FC, 5-1, in Tagum.

In front of its home town crowd for the second time, Global gave their fans another reason to celebrate as it stepped up its game in the second half to dispatch Stallion and earned full three points to move it to solo second place with a 6-2-2 record and 20 points.

It dislodged erstwhile second-running JPV Marikina FC (6-0-3) at 18 points and is now three points behind league-leading FC Meralco Manila (7-2-0).

After being held to a goalless tie in the opening half by visiting Stallion, Global cranked things up in the second fold of the contest with veteran Misagh Bahadoran leading the charge.

The Philippine Azkals member Bahadoran broke the stalemate in the 49th minute after beating Stallion goalkeeper Benito Rosalla, Jr. inside the box to give his team the 1-0 lead, sending the 5,000 or so Global fans in the venue into celebration.

Mr. Bahadoran then added another goal in the 67th minute when he followed up on teammate Shu Sasaki’s foiled lob to make it to 2-0 for the host team.

While his first jab at scoring was stopped by the Stallion defense, Mr. Sasaki redeemed himself in the 86th minute with a goal off an impressive and rare bicycle kick to complete the shutout of Laguna.

With the loss, Stallion (0-3-7) remains winless 10 games to date in the national football league and currently sits on seventh place in the eight-team field with three points.

BACK-TO-BACK WINS
After encountering a rough patch previously, Kaya, meanwhile, has won back-to-back games with its conquest of the Aguilas.

The win was in follow up to its prior win over Stallion, 3-1, in Biñan and thrust Kaya (5-2-3) back inside the top four of the standings with 17 points.

A brace from forward Joven Bedic and goals each from defender Alfred Osei and substitutes Eric Giganto and Kenshiro Daniels did it for Kaya in a game it described after as something it really worked hard for despite the final score.

Mr. Bedic opened the scoring for Kaya in the 20th minute off a Robert Mendy cross that gave his team the upper hand after scary moments in the early goings of the match from the host team.

Davao, however, would do a steady job of not letting things get out of hand for the rest of the opening half thereafter.

The Aguilas then pulled even in the 49th minute care of forward Nikola Grubjesic.

It proved to be the last chance for Davao to be on the board though as Kaya began to cascade on the Aguilas after that.

Mr. Osei broke the tie in the 58th minute, minutes after Davao was reduced to 10 men after Jason Cordova was red-carded for a rough play on Kaya’s Marwin Angeles.

Mr. Bedic made it 3-1 for his team in the 76th minute with a powerful low shot.

Davao native Giganto added to the misery of the Aguilas when he stretched Kaya’s lead to 4-1, in the 87th minute before Mr. Daniels put on the finishing touches with a goal right before the final whistle.

“It wasn’t easy. In the first half Davao really showed what they could do. They even scored. But after they went a man down, they started leaving a lot of space for us to operate. We exploited them every chance we could,” said Kaya coach Noel Marcaida after the game.

With the loss, Davao’s struggles continued, leaving it with a 0-4-5 record and four points, good for sixth place. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Spider-Man casts a wide web to top weekend box office

LOS ANGELES — Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony’s newest addition to the growing library of summertime superhero yarns, spun up an impressive opening in North American theaters this weekend, with ticket sales for the three-day weekend estimated at $117 million.

That would give the film the third-largest opening so far this year, behind Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Sony, along with Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, spent a hefty $175 million to make the film, but global sales have already surpassed $250 million, according to Web site boxofficemojo.com.

Last week’s No. 1 film, Despicable Me 3, came in second at a respectable $34 million, Web site Exhibitor Relations reported. In Universal’s latest installment in the animated series, Steve Carell stars as the voice of bad guy-turned-protagonist Gru — and his twin brother Dru. Kristen Wiig voices Gru’s wife Lucy and South Park co-creator Trey Parker is evil villain Balthazar Bratt.

In third spot was Sony’s heist thriller Baby Driver, with Ansel Elgort (The Fault in our Stars) starring as a gifted getaway driver who suffers from tinnitus — ringing in his ears — forcing him to play music on his iPod to concentrate when behind the wheel. It took in $12.7 million in its third week.

Fourth was Wonder Woman, at $10.1 million. The Warner Bros. superhero action film stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot as the Amazonian goddess-princess.

And in fifth place was Transformers: The Last Knight from Paramount, with ticket sales of $6.3 million. The latest episode in that blockbuster series, heavy on visual effects, features actors Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro and Anthony Hopkins.

Rounding out the top 10 were: Cars 3 ($5.6 million); The House ($4.8 million); The Big Sick ($3.6 million); 47 Meters Down ($2.8 million); and, The Beguiled ($2.0 million). — AFP

World Cup of Softball: RP Blu Girls beat Mexico, 4-2

THE RP Blu Girls snapped out of a 4-game losing skid, defeating world no. 10 Mexico, 4-2, to finish strong on Saturday in the World Cup of Softball XII at the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (ASAPHIL) Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.

The Philippine women’s softball team were tied with their Mexican opponents, 2-2, until the top of the sixth when the Cebuana Lhuillier-backed Filipinas pulled away with Francesca Altomonte hitting a homer to drive in two runs, sealing the win.

“The Blu Girls have been putting up a great fight against some tough opponents in the World Cup of Softball. Their performance in this tournament has proven that they are ready to face the toughest international teams and are continuously improving to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” said Asaphil President Jean Henri Lhuillier.

At the opening of the World Cup on Wednesday, the 17th-ranked Blu Girls also defeated world no. 4 Australia, 7-5.

The Blu Girls hopes to sustain the momentum of its win going to the Canada Cup International Softball Championship in Surrey, British Columbia where it plays Pakistan and host Canada on July 11, and Chinese Taipei on July 12 at Softball City.

The national team is composed of Gabrielle Maurice, Dani Gilmore, Chelsea Suitos, Sierra Lange, Garie Blando, Hailey Decker, Skylynne Ellazar, Kailey Cuico Riflayca Basa, Angeli Ursabia, Mary Luisse Garde, Cristy Roa, Dione Macasu, Francesca Altomonte, Arianne Vallestero, Ma. Celestine Palma, Lorna Adorable, Shaira Damasing, Mia Macapagal, Reese Guevarra, Riezel Calumbres, Lovely Arago, and Lyca Basa.

Low score for Duterte on Internet service, traffic in Metro Manila from Davao folks

PRESIDENT RODRIGO R. Duterte received an overall 89.38% approval rating from his hometown Davao City in a survey based on his campaign promises conducted by the Institute of Popular Opinion (IPO) of the University of Mindanao. The study, which involved 1,200 respondents, was undertaken from May 17-26 this year. “What we have is a problem of speed, access is different from speed,” IPO Director for Quantitative Studies Dr. Adrian M. Tamayo said in a press conference yesterday, explaining the President’s 76.15% mark on Internet service. On solving the traffic congestion in Metro Manila, with a score of 72.15%, Mr. Tamayo said while the problem does not directly affect people from Davao City, it is an issue they can relate to. — Carmencita A. Carillo

An eager teenage Spider-Man swings into Marvel’s Homecoming

LOS ANGELES — You’ve seen Spider-Man swing through New York battling the Green Goblin, but you’ve never seen him idolize Iron Man.

That is what the director of Spider-Man: Homecoming hopes audiences are drawn to as the third Spider-Man reboot in a decade hit movie theaters last week.

Jon Watts said he wanted to make Homecoming a cross between a superhero movie and a high school comedy where the dorky lead is a fanboy of other superheroes.

Homecoming takes a lighter tone to the last two iterations of Spider-Man, in keeping with Marvel’s proclivity for harnessing laughs in its superhero franchise.

Unlike previous films where Spider-Man was the lone superhero, Homecoming has the web-slinging crime fighter battling alongside Marvel characters Iron Man and Captain America.

Usual scenes explaining Spider-Man’s origins — the death of his Uncle Ben and being bitten by a radioactive spider — are notably absent.

“We’ve seen that origin story before,” Watts told Reuters. “Here’s Spider-Man, he’s a kid, let’s take him on an adventure… it’s all part of trying to show people something new.”

Spider-Man, this time played by Tom Holland, was first introduced alongside other Marvel characters in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

A deal between Sony Corp., which holds rights to Spider-Man, and Walt Disney Co. which has those for superheroes like Iron Man, let Spider-Man feature next to fellow Marvel characters. That allowed Watts to explore the boy hero in a way he said creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko originally envisioned in comic strips with multiple characters.

“They wanted to give a different perspective on this world of superheroes, like a regular guy’s perspective, that was one of the things that made Spider-Man so special,” Watts said.

Homecoming takes place after the events of Civil War, and 15-year-old Peter Parker feels neglected by Iron Man, struggling to adjust back to the mundaneness of high school while disguising his superpowers.

“We’ve seen a lot of superheroes dealing with responsibility and burden of their powers… but if you have a 15-year-old kid with super powers, definitely there’s going to be some funny moments,” Watts said.

Parker also faces foes, particularly The Vulture, played by Michael Keaton, who has built an underground arms trade with the debris of high-powered superhero weapons littered across New York City during 2012’s Avengers.

Homecoming has received warm reviews from critics.

The film follows Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man franchise from 2012 to 2014 and movies featuring Tobey Maguire from 2002 to 2007. — Reuters

Stephan Lhuillier launches Pinoy Tennis Trainers

THE name Lhuillier has been associated for two things — a multi-industry company and its love for sports.

Since the 1980s, the company has been an avid backer of sports, the most notable was the Lhuillier Jewelers squad in the now defunct PABL.

PJ Lhuillier, which is headed by Jean Henri Lhuillier, continued its support in sports — both local and international through the years.

In the local scene, they bankrolled the Cebu Gems in the short lived Metropolitan Basketball Association, and actively supported tennis and softball in the Philippines.

In the international circuit, the group was a staunch backer of the amateur-laden Philippine men’s basketball team from 2003 to 2005 before politics within the sport intervened and stalled the progress of the program.

PJ Lhuillier also backed the Philippine Mavericks team, which participated in the IPTL, a world-ranking tennis circuit.

This time, a second generation Lhuillier, Stephan Lhuillier, son of Jean Henri and wife, Olympian Bea Lucero-Lhuillier, is doing his share giving back to the sport of tennis and focusing on helping the Pinoy trainers thru the Pinoy Tennis Trainers program for free.

“I’d like to help them financially,” Stephan told BusinessWorld in an exclusive interview. “So I developed this program called Pinoy Tennis Trainers to upgrade their skills and for them to be paid well.”

According to the young Lhuillier, tennis trainers are among the least paid personnel in sports.

“It depends on the clubs. Because some of the higher clubs, the Manila Polo Club or Alabang Club, they are being paid around P200 per hour. The per hour rate is between P150 and P200. If they become coach, it will be doubled. I’m speaking of the higher clubs. But in the provinces, they could only get P80, the ball boys get P10 or P20. It depends on the clubs,” said Stephan.

Part of the program of the Pinoy Tennis Trainers is to send our local trainers abroad to upgrade their skills.

“Hazel Espinosa, formerly No. 4 in the country, she’s working as a trainer now and there’s another one from Amoranto Tennis Club, they were sent to Thailand for free to undergo training and accompanied by (Coach) Roland Kraut,” he added. “They attended a coach’s course. They attended a Level 1 course.”

Mr. Kraut said the trainers and the coaches will definitely benefit from the program started by the young Lhuillier.

“They’re lucky because of the program. Before, we have to go to abroad, apply and take the course and send your credentials, otherwise you’ll lose your accreditation,” said Mr. Kraut. “Trainers live it up to coaches. They think coaching is just making kids play better. Now, we’re opening their eyes to look at the bigger picture.”

The program was created for trainers to understand the important things in training.

“First is for the coaches and trainers to have the knowledge. The next is to create a pool of kids, get them interested. From this pool of kids, the third one is to get players who will be successful. Not everyone will be successful,” said Mr. Kraut. “But right now, it’s educating the coaches. When you go to Visayas and Mindanao, there are a lot of kids, but there are only a few who can teach. We need to equip them.”

The Pinoy Tennis Trainers had gone through different parts of the country and has built interest.

“The program was intended for coaches and trainers to never stop learning. They’re willing. When we go around, we get 30, 40, 50 participants, it means they’re willing. In Cebu, we got 50,” added Mr. Kraut.

“And the good thing is, everything is free — you have food, T-shirt, they have raffle of tennis racquets. All they need to do is to attend.” — Rey Joble

Iloilo Water District poised for long legal battle over supply contract

THE METRO Iloilo Water District (MIWD) is prepared to take its dispute with bulk supplier FLO Water Resources Iloilo, Inc. all the way to the Supreme Court. MIWD legal counsel Roy M. Villa said they intend to first file a petition before the Court of Appeals to contest the recent Arbitral Tribunal favoring FLO Water. An Ad Hoc Arbitral Tribunal created by both parties, in a decision on May 25, favored the take-or-pay claim of FLO Water on its bulk water supply contract with MIWD, and ordered MIWD to pay the P164.5 million in arrears covering undelivered water from Feb. 16, 2013 up to April 30, 2016. “MIWD still believes that the contract is not a take-or-pay. That has been our position ever since,” Mr. Villa said. The arbitrators also qualified that the payment must first be approved by the Commission on Audit (CoA) since MIWD is a government-owned and — controlled corporation. “CoA has the parameters to find out if the payment is unauthorized, illegal, or inconsumable. In other words, it is not just a question of the provision of the contract but on the constitution and public police,” Mr. Villa said. “Because it is not just by thousands but by hundreds of millions. So MIWD really has to fight it out,” the added. — Louine Hope U. Conserva