I did my run from RIC
The United fare is available from many cities. My run started from RIC. ORF and DCA fares are in the $600s. The trick is to use multiple destination search on Google flight using GUM as a stopover. I arrived at MNL in the morning and left the next evening. My hotel cost was $26 (hometown hotel). Taxi was cheap, but you needed to bargain. For example, I spent $4 for a trip from PNR EDSA station to Manila Chinese cemetery. Airport to my hotel on Uber was less than $2.5. But be careful with thieves. The admission fees to Port Santiago were than $1.5. So, you should make a short visit instead of a pure run. I got upgrades with a GPU and RPU for all flights other than GUM-HNL.1K status helped! RIC-EWR-NRT-GUM-MNL was on W fare. But the total fare was about $900.