There are Filipinos in Lemmy, even those who didn’t participate in this community back when it was more alive. I suspect there were more Filipinos in Lemmy that didn’t participate in the community than those who did. Perhaps it is the usual 90% lurker, 9% commenter, 0.9% poster mix, with the remaining percentage being what I call “community leaders” who set the tone and the stage for the community.
The problem, as far as I see it, is with the very nature of non-mainstream social media: it’s non-mainstream. Sherlock-level take, I know, but the problem is that while there’s a lot of Filipinos using social media, and some of them use non-mainstream social media (such as Mastodon and Lemmy), I doubt it’s enough to sustain a community (at this early state, at least) without some unholy level of effort and commitment not just from the community leaders, but also from the members. I am guilty of this lack of commitment myself.
Personally, I stayed here on Lemmy, but I wasn’t really the type of person that can comment and make posts that are meaningful and relevant to this community. Unfortunately, I guess there’s more people like me here than otherwise.
Moreover, I don’t think it’s easy to spot a Filipino in those non-mainstream media unless they tell you. And as far as my sample size of less than a handful is concerned, they aren’t really coming out of the woodwork just as easily to form a Filipino community in those non-mainstream social media. This is perhaps a consequence of Filipinos (of my generation at least, the 90’s kids) getting used to a social media not of their own, they’ve managed to blend in and are fine with it. Unless there’s a big reason to come out of the shadows and participate in, or create, a Filipino community, they won’t.
Considering how old Facebook has already been when it gained traction here in the Philippines, how old Reddit was when /r/Philippines really got active, I think this community is just before its time. The only kinds of communities here on Lemmy that I can consider self-sustaining and mature enough are the Linux communities and other more geeky-pop-culture communities (LotR, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc). These communities really paint a picture of what appeals to the ordinary Lemmy user right now, and perhaps an indication of what kind of users tend to adopt non-mainstream social media.
Oh, I forgot to answer the question:
Is there any hope for any move outside of the main social medias?
If what you mean by ‘move’ is something like moving /r/Philippines into !philippines@lemmy.world, then no. I don’t think there was any hope of that happening to begin with. What I think might be possible is to have enough people here in Lemmy such that there’s enough Filipinos (or other people interested in the Philippines) to organically grow this community.
EDIT:
I forgot to answer the OP’s question, my bad.
The way it was presented (not just in OP’s article, but also in news reports earlier) made me think it’s intentional and is some form of a very novel protest.
Glad I was wrong, I guess?