But when I checked other statistics like the number of posts made so far this year, then I found the fact that the Philippines local board only has 190 active users for 5,596 posts as of January 1, 2022 - September 28, 2022.
I wouldn't call 190 active members in Philippines board during 2022 "only", as its still a pretty decent number that puts them in the top half when compared with other local boards.
Of course, mate. The 190 active users that I mentioned "only" are those who were active during the time span from January 1, 2022 to September 28, 2022. This number of users can still increase considering that this year there are still a few months left.
This may greatly determine the number of merits of your local board.
Not really, as just last month they shared the 3rd sport with your local board when it comes to number of active members, yet they were almost at the bottom of merit shared chart. What determines the amount of merit shared is primarily amount of active merit sources that you have, which Philippines board seriously lacks at the moment.
I agree about the last part of your post, the reasoning is pretty self-explanatory that an active merit source largely determines how much merit is distributed in the local board. But the active participation of other users in this merit circle can also be decisive, so I guess these active users also have a hand as one of the reasons why local board don't have many distributed merit.