Is there a way to Filter a spreadsheet so that the merged cells will all show?

example:
say the list has 4 columns...
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd col are merged cells and the 4th is not.

1,type1,catagory1,input1
, , ,input2
, , ,input3
2,type1,catagory2,input-a
, , ,input-b
3,type2,catagory1,input-e
, , ,input-f

7 lines where I want to filter the 3rd col for "catagory1" so that the
result keeps the merged cells' rows all showing... The result set after
filtering should show rows(1,2,3,6,7)

How do I make the filter understand that "catagory1" is really part of rows
2,3 and, 7.

One way I figure would work is to create a new table of the list and include
the words on each and every row of the line set, then use pivot tables to
rebuild the view for the list. (is there a more direct solution i can use
with out manupliating the data to create more text?)

--
Regards,
John