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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                            SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION

I, Joseph B. Feil, certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of MetLife Policyholder
      Trust, for which Wilmington Trust Company acts as Trustee;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
      report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, distributable income and changes in
      trust corpus of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
      this report;

4.    I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
      procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)), or
      for causing such procedures to be established and maintained, for the
      registrant and I have:

      a)    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
            disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under my
            supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
            registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
            to me by others within those entities, particularly during the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

      b)    Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls
            and procedures and presented in this report my conclusions about the
            effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the
            end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
            and

      c)    Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
            control over financial reporting that occurred during the
            registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth
            fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially
            affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.    I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control
      over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors:

      a)    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
            reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to
            record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b)    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves persons who have a
            significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial
            reporting.

In giving the certifications in paragraphs 4 and 5 above, I have relied to the
extent I consider reasonable on information provided to me by MetLife, Inc. and
Mellon Investor Services LLC.

Date: March 30, 2004

                                        By:   /s/ Joseph B. Feil
                                              -------------------------
                                              Joseph B. Feil
                                              Assistant Vice President
                                              Wilmington Trust Company