Off the back of two disappointing performances to open their campaign, including a 1-1 draw against Myanmar Under-16 and a 3-0 defeat against Vietnam Under-16, the Joeys simply had to win to be any chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
Coach Tony Vidmar's decision to elevate Jaidon Seldon into the starting line-up paid immediate dividends after the youngster benefitted from a Philippines' defensive calamity to open the scoring in the 10th minute.
The Joeys soon doubled their advantage 17 minutes later with Seldon producing a delightful assist for Mirza Muratovic, who calmly went around the Philippines goalkeeper and chipped the ball into an empty net.
And the match was effectively over in the 36th minute thanks to a goalkeeping howler by the Philippines shot stopper, who inexplicably failed to keep out a glancing header, with the goal awarded to Joel King.
The second-half saw with Joeys run riot with captain Mark Moric producing a sublime turn to score their fourth in the 54th minute.
Tony Vidmar's side finished the rout in style - adding three goals in the final 11 minutes with Mirza Muratovic bagging his hat-trick with two well-worked goals in the dying stages, after Lachlan Brook's thunderous wonder strike.
The result sees the Joeys move into the all-important top two in group A on goal difference, ahead of their final group stage clashes with Singapore and Malaysia.
