The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ended at approx. 3:00 A.M., Manila-time.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur was informed by telephone at 3:40 A.M.
Before 7:00 A.M., President Quezon had issued a statement to the radio: "The zero hour has arrived. I expect every Filipino - man and woman - to do his duty. We have pledged our honor to stand by the United States and we shall not fail her, happen what may."
At 9:25 A.M., Major General Brereton, MacArthur's air commander, had learned that carrier-based Japanese planes had bombed Tarlac, Tuguegarao, and Camp John Hay in northern Luzon.
And yet, sometime between 12:10 P.M. and 12:35 P.M., some 54 Mitsubishis and 56 Zeros swooped down on Clark Field.
"The Japanese could hardly believe their good fortune," writes William Manchester in his biography of MacArthur, American Caesar, "There lay their prey, bunched together, wing tips almost touching [...] By 1:37 P.M., when the last Japanese plane soared away, Clark was unrecognizable."
Regards,
Some people hold up MacArthur as some kind of hero. I am not one of them.
I do not deny that he had talent. I do believe he was blinded by his own ego, hobbled by his arrogance, and was never held to account for the mistakes or poor decisions he made in the same way he held others to account.
There were many times he was called to stand in judgement of his fellow officers and the men who served under them and him, and he was merciless.
Had he been held to the same standard, even just once, for what happened at Clark Field, then it would be a different story. But FDR decided we needed a hero, interesting considering their relationship through the rest of WWII.