It is a pretty simple language actually, at least Tagalog, Cebuano, and similar are. Others, like Ilicano are tougher. There are many languages and dialects, some of which are quite divergent. My skills have actually more or less rusted away at this point.
One thing that makes Tagalog easy to learn is that many of the words they use are Spanish transliterated into their alphabet/soundset. I discovered very early on that if I was reading a Tagalog word that I did not know that was not obviously pure Tagalog, I would try to map the sound of it to Spanish in my head to determine its meaning. This works far more often than you think it would. I don't really know much Spanish, but I knew enough that I bridged a lot of gaps with it. The structure and form is not Spanish, but many of the words in the language were taken from Spanish.
My honey keeps telling me Tagalog is easy too, though I am not convinced of it. I was in the Philippines recently, and I can tell, total exposure to the language, is the way to learn it. She says I learn it quickly, but I have a long way to go before I can carry on a conversation.