Hey ya Coyne. Nice to see you again.
There are no travel warnings listed by our Govt., in either "do not" travel or "reccommend you reconsider travel" categories for the Philippines, so it may be a specific U.S. threat. Our Govt's current status on Philippines is "high degree of caution" but it's been that way for yonks. They do, however, say "do not travel" to the Mindanao region.

I'd probably suggest NW for the flights - if he's in Michigan they fly nonstop DTW to NRT then connect down into MNL from there. PAL fly from the West Coast into MNL and may be a cheaper option - more so if he can travel on your pass/benefits into LAX to connect onto PAL.
Depends on how well he travels and what his priorities are - convenience or price.

If he's game, you could probably now get him to HNL using your pass benefits. PAL fly 3 x weekly HNL-MNL nonstop & you should be able to get a great fare with them.