TAYTAY, Rizal, May 17 (PIA) -- The Second National Congress on Philippine Lakes organized by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research (PCAMRD) was held on April 27-29, 2011 in partnership with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) at U.P. Los Baños in Laguna. With the theme, “Building on the Pillars on Integrated Lake Basin Management”, LakeCon 2011 brought together stakeholders, policymakers and the academe to discuss the Integrated Lake Basin Management (ILBM) as an approach to help the country achieve a common framework for lake management. In his welcome remarks, SEARCA Director Dr. Gil Saguiguit, Jr. conveyed the need to strengthen partnerships and linkages among key stakeholders in the management of the country’s lakes to address its common issues. Accordingly, ILBM integrates six management elements, namely, institutions, policy, stakeholder participation, technology, science and finances. All of