Utilizing the theoretical and methodological formulations of Pantayong Pananaw (“For us, of us, among ourselves, about ourselves and others” Perspective) and Sikolohiyang Pilipino (“Filipino Psychology”), the study found that the fundamental Filipino motivation in life in general, and in public sector employment in particular is the search for “Ginhawa.” It discovered that public sector employment is at once considered “[H]anapbuhay” in its broad meaning as “search for a life and livelihood” (or search for “Ginhawa”), and “trabaho” or modern industrial work which is generally understood to mean strictly regimented activity driven and governed by organizational maxims. A more restrictive sense of the former word or “[h]anapbuhay” was likewise identified. Glossed as mere subcategory to “[H]anapbuhay” and reflected on the continuing assertion of the traditional Filipino work ethic, “[h]anapbuhay” is used in contrastive distinction or elaboration to “trabaho.” Interestingly, in the public sector workplace, employees are confronted by the two forms or subcategories of “Hanapbuhay” — “hanapbuhay” and “trabaho” — operating in what appears as a dichotomy (hanapbuhay-trabaho dichotomy) but in actuality is resolved by government employees through intersections occurring either in the form of administrative practices that are characteristic of “paghahanapbuhay sa trabaho” (“pursuing a livelihood while at work”); or “ginagawang hanapbuhay ang trabaho” (“turning one’s work into a livelihood”). While the first are met with varying degrees of social acceptance and tolerance due to their association with positive Filipino values, the second is the Filipino metaphor for graft and corruption and are outrightly condemned, believed to be engaged in mainly by politicians. Unlike the second which is driven by avarice or an insatiable desire for “ginhawa,” “paghahanapbuhay sa trabaho” are administrative practices among career employees fueled by the insufficiency of “ginhawa” derived from “trabaho,” and cultivated by the prevailing bureaucratic culture of complaisance (“kultura ng pagkamaunawain, maawain, at mapagparaya, o mapagbigay”) driven in large part by the prevailing Filipino regard for “pakikipagkapwa-tao.”