Unable to start new torrents or even seed existing files when I open Tixati using my Avast VPN.  Never had this problem before.  Using latest versions of everything.  Recently moved to the Philippines, and I am wondering if they can actively block torrent transfers even with VPN.  Any ideas?

Maybe incompatible VPN servers. Make sure you are using only dedicated P2P servers.

I will put it first, Avast is not an Antivirus Software company, it's a marketing and data collection company. See the outcry about their browser addon tracking your clicks.

The VPN administrators can block bittorrents in multiple ways:
- block all connections to/from default torrent ports
- block tracker domains at DNS resolver level (ProtonVPN does this on "free" servers)
- block incoming connections (kinda the default if not configured with port-forwarding)
- intentionally block UDP hole-punching because it would allow a little of incoming connections
- Deep Packet Inspection to block bittorrent handshakes or DHT traffic
- externally updated IP blocks to block connections to Bittorrent/DHT peers

Ranked by probability

Last but not least since you run their software on your PC, you don't know what it's doing. They could have introduced blocking of torrent apps. Some VPN software just closes the VPN connection (LOL) other close the application. Theoretically they could just cut off torrenting software's internet access while connected.