Has to be better than that.
Pics/Videos/GIFs of John Oliver still fall within the sub name (r/pics, r/videos, r/GIFs) which implicitly places limitations on the theme surrounding the sub. They also conducted polls where the outcome was decided by the community. This way, mods have technically complied with reddit rules and are shown not to own the sub, hence, are simply allowing it to open according to community decision. This allows the mods to keep their positions and not get replaced by the worst people (for example, the worst case scenario is getting an apologist replacing the mods).
Dickbutts are a few too many degrees away from what r/Philippines should be about and might get the mods replaced for disrupting the sub. Just look at how r/interestingasfuck is going to comply with admin demands by just removing all subreddit rules (i.e. post anything you find interesting).
That's the kind of malicious compliance we want.
It's more than that since it involves more than Taiwan. China is now trying to claim larger part of the seas and everybody else is disliking it.