Philippine air forces should have gone to the highest alert after word arrived that Hawaii had been attacked. Existing doctrine had treated the Philippines as a likely first target, so Pearl Harbor should have signalled either that Japan was bypassing the islands or that an attack would follow immediately. Dispersing aircraft and raising readiness would not make the archipelago permanently defensible. It could preserve enough air power to force Japan to commit more forces and time, limiting what remained available for operations beyond the Philippines.
Notable Point · 3:14:05-3:14:28
The missed air alert in the Philippines
News of Pearl Harbor should have triggered dispersal and full alert in the Philippines, where prewar doctrine already expected a Japanese attack.