TIME was when the annual year-end Metro Manila Film Festival was a showcase for the best movies that Filipino filmmakers could come up with. In fact, the reason why an annual Filipino film festival was originally conceived was because, in the '60s, most people didn't think that local filmmakers could make creditable movies.

Those were the days when foreign films held sway over the movie scene in the country, with all except three or four moviehouses showing only Hollywood films. Local producers had to make-do with only a handful of smaller theaters, thus limiting the potential income of their productions.

To prove to everyone that our producers could come up with significant films that had good production values, local industry leaders convinced then Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas to set aside 10 days during which all of the theaters in Manila could show only Filipino movies.

This was a big gamble on the part of the mayor and producers of Filipino films. Quite a number of moviegoers were unhappy about not being able to see their preferred Hollywood films for 10 days. If the local movies shown on the filmfest's first year didn't please them, they would have raised such a hue and cry that the festival would have been a first-year, last-year flop.

But local filmmakers did rise up to the challenge and came up with worthy entries that surprised many viewers who hadn't seen a Filipino movie in years. All of a sudden, local films were "in," and soon more theaters agreed to show them because they made good money.

In time, local movies became so popular that some of them made more at the box-office than Hollywood productions. Thus did the Manila and later the Metro Manila filmfest literally save the local movie industry and its products from moviegoers' arch disdain.

Unfortunately, through the years, some local producers have become less steadfast and more avaricious, and have managed to turn the "quality" festival into a moneymaking machine. That's why "commercial" movies with big stars have replaced the interesting dramas, satires, period movies and political films of yore. At the Metro filmfest's lowest ebb, it shocked film buffs by handing out acting awards to some patently incompetent performers.

Things have sort of improved since then, but the year-end filmfest is still nowhere near its peak of excellence in years like 1976, when the official festival entries included gems like "Insiang," "Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon?" and "Minsa'y Isang Gamu-Gamo."

This year, the festival offers a mixed bag of filmic goodies and not-so-goodies. The strongest competitors for honors are the drama entries--Marilou Diaz-Abaya's "Muro-Ami," which should get most of the awards, plus Joel Lamangan's "Bulaklak ng Maynila" and Jerry Sineneng's "Esperanza, the Movie."

The fantasy-action ("Pepeng Agimat") and horror ("Sa Piling ng mga Aswang") entries could click with audiences, depending on the creativity of their special effects, but are not expected to figure strongly in the awards competition, unless Maricel Soriano and Gina Alajar's portrayals in "Aswang" turns out to be interesting. As for the sixth entry, the action-drama, "Ako ang Lalagot sa Buhay Mo," one doesn't quite know what to make of it or understand how it's gotten into the festival, so we'll have to see it to find out.

Predictions? The judges could go for: Best film, "Muro-Ami." Best director, Marilou Diaz-Abaya. Actor, Cesar Montano in "Muro-Ami." Actress Judy Ann Santos in "Esperanza." Supporting actor, Christopher de Leon in "Bulaklak." Supporting actress, Elizabeth Oropesa in "Bulaklak" and Amy Austria in "Muro-Ami" (tie).

But the filmfest's line-up is so diluted in terms of quality that, whoever wins whatever award, the 1999 festival won't make much of a mark. Too bad, because 1999 has been a very stressful year for local movies, with exploitative sex films turning off many people and lowering their regard for our filmmakers, and what would have turned the tide in favor of the industry would have been a truly exceptional line-up of films in this year's Metro filmfest.

Like the first year of the Manila festival, when most people didn't think much of local filmmakers, the movie industry is being held up to scorn again. Unlike the first Manila festival, where many good entries were fielded, the 1999 filmfest can only offer a mixed selection on point of quality, so it won't turn the industry's critics into enthusiastic supporters of local movies, like the first Manila filmfest did.