Hi, I'm in the process myself and have researched this quite a bit. There is no "one way" that works for everyone but everything I have read leads me to reading. Start by learning basic words, then reading - the reader function here is tremendous. It allows you to track words you know and don't know, and get the definitions of words in real time by just a click. That is HUGE. Take the words you don't know, put them on a list, do the flashcards (first couple of times do it in filipino first, ALWAYS use the audio - the more senses you incorporate the faster you will learn and the better you'll retain).
Do the flashcards multiple days / times, and review them regularly. Go back to that same reading and try it again, watch at how much better you do - then the words will "stick". Then keep repeating this.
I still believe it is very helpful to take a formal course, that way you learn verb conjugation and stuff in a systematic way I'm using multiple paths - Rosetta Stone, Pimselur, reading the book by Joe Barrios Tagalog for Beginners (and I hired Filipino tutor to go through the book with me).
Set a goal to learn 10 words a day or more. in 3 months you'll know nearly 1000 words. It takes approx 2000 to 3000 words to be basic conversational , that's only 6 months away. If you do the above reading you'll learn the words quickly, ESPECIALLY when you read stuff that you find personally very interesting. That's the trick - learning words in context of the words you already know, that's how God wired our brains ;-).
I hope this is helpful - it is my own opinion and based off a ton of research - best of luck
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