heyo~ welcome to af-forums is first of all~
but yea, if they are very close friends of yours, even through the interwebs, you should still stay in contact, you dont need to meet and greet and all that, just being in contact is better
especially with covid, philippines is not a fun place to visit right now, you will just be quarantined for 14days, with sh*tton of delays on being catered to, its really not a great idea to visit philippines --- or any other country at that fact right now
i haven't met with my classmate who i treat as a BFF, but we still keep in touch on facebook, its mainly talk about gacha games though, and some random topics about what's happening with my life right now, with job and all, flexes and stuff
yea, getting on your hobby will be more fun, but dont forget to talk to people too, locally finding friends is really hard, especially if you're a introvert like me
currently on my work, no one shares the same hobbies as me (drawing, playing games, animes), but that doesn't bother me that much, we don't have to share the same taste to be friends, though it helps ease tension and make conversations if they know of the stuff i commonly know of >.<)
so yea, tldr; yea, forget about philippines for now, and focus on your own life rather than others
this is coming from someone who lives in Ph by the by ~.~