Globalization has fuelled the desire for simplicity and flexibility in rules and processes within nations. de Soto (2000) calls for the simplification of rules to enable people to join the formal economy. Friedman (2005) echoes the need for simpler rules, to attract business and capital. Market-based approaches to governing have been adopted in many nations due to globalization. Recent developments demonstrate that such approaches fail. Globalization may lead to impoverishment in the absence of proper forms of governance (Cooney 2000). That is why it has the tendency to become a "race to the bottom." Regulatory measures can be costly, and the costs of doing business are uneven across nations. This unevenness is being used as a comparative advantage. Others call this regulatory competition (Smith-Bozek 2007) or competitive governance (Schachtel and Sahmel 2000), which is similar to the model of Charles Tiebout. Collaborative governance is an approach that governments could use in lieu of the competitive method. Mechanisms that enable stakeholders to exchange information, harmonize activities, share resources, and enhance capacities (Himmelman 2002) are needed. Philippine public policy encourages a shift in modes of realizing labor market governance outcomes from command to collaboration (Sale and Bool 2010B; Sale 2011). Is labor market governance and regional development in the Philippines collaborative? Or is the opposite - competitive governance (Tiebout model) - more evident? What is the dominant approach? This preliminary research tackles these questions by looking at recent data on average and minimum wages, wage differentials, trade union density, collective bargaining coverage, small and bigger enterprises, employment, unemployment and underemployment, inflation, poverty incidence, labor productivity, family income, among others, across regions of the country. The issue is studied in the context of legal origins. Cultural explanations are broached.