Philippine trade negotiators bound to the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland are prepared to handle surprises which some negotiators from the developed countries may spring up.

This was the assurance made by agriculture negotiator Segfredo Serrano and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) bargainer Butch Benedicto during a briefing on the latest developments in WTO talks called by the congressional committee on globalization.

Benedictor said the stalled WTO talks resume this week, but the sessions are not yet formal negotiations on raging issues between the developed and developing worlds.

The Philippine delegation to be led by Trade Secretary Peter Favila is prepared to guard against moves to defeat the gains already made in previous talks, Benedicto assured.

For his part, Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Serrano said that in previous meetings, some of the ministers from the highly developed countries almost always pulled surprises.

The latest example was the recent Singapore talks where new proposals were put on the table even when it was not supposed to be a negotiating session. The ministers are mandated by their own governments to work for their own interests during the negotiations, and nobody could stop them from talking with their counterparts from other countries.

What Serrano and Benedicto fear are moves from delegates from the biggest countries to reverse what have been agreed in past sessions.

Serrano said some of them may maneuver to reverse the consensus basis of arriving at agreements which is bad to small countries like the Philippines.