I don’t know if that sort of thing is distinctly Pinoy however. I understand what you are saying but for me, I’ve seen such competitive behaviour in other cultures too. For example, where I live it is not unusual to see a Vietnamese restaurants right next door each other, a Mexican restaurant right in front of the other one, same goes with Italian restaurants. Survey the streets of Tijuana (Mexico) and you’ll find lines of stores that goes on for blocks, selling the same stuff (carved woods, blankets, silver jewelries) right next to each other. It makes you wonder if they even make profit at all if everybody is selling the same thing. Even the US is not immune to this clustering, it’s not unusual to see Barnes and Noble right next to a Borders, a Circuit City next to a Best Buy, Williams Sonoma steps away from Sur La Table, Pottery Barn next to say a Pier 1 Imports or Crate and Barrel. And I could go on and on, the only difference I see is that, some stores just try different “gimiks” to lure you in.