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Philippines; that's a fine bit of DX from Texas!

The signal reports on that QSO suggest that DU6/PE1NSQ was running somewhere between 100 and 200 watts. (I don't know the actual power level used by AE5X.) All else being equal, if you are running 5W and the other station is running 100W your signal will be -13dB compared to theirs. The difference here is 15-16 dB, depending on which report of their signal you look at: the -2 or the -3 compared to the -18 they sent you.

All else isn't always equal because the S/N is also affected by the signals from other stations and by noise on the band, and the levels of those may not be the same at both locations. If your location is quieter than the other station's location the difference in levels will be higher; if you have the noisier location the difference will be lower. I'm also assuming that neither station is using a separate receive antenna. Also that the receivers at both ends are sufficiently sensitive to hear down to the band's noise floor; that will usually be true, especially on the bands that the QDX covers.

When you contact another QRP station on FT8 the reports should be similar on both ends, again if all else is equal. WSJX-X can decode FT8 pretty reliably down to about -20dB and sometimes as far down as -24dB; FT4 is about 3dB worse but twice as fast.

When you're getting started on FT8, stick to calling stations that you receive at -5dB or better. They're the ones you are most likely to be able to contact, and you'll be busy working them for a bit as you get experience. Later you can try calling some weaker stations; you won't always get through to them but sometimes you will.