STO. TOMAS, Pampanga, Philippines ?A village in this town has begun its bid to have its chapel declared as the site of the first terracotta retablo (main altar) in Central Luzon.

Ronaldo Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism, has visited the chapel at the invitation of Mayor Lito Naguit, said Teresita Juarez, barangay captain of Sto. Niño (formerly Sapa).

So far, what Tiotuico has confirmed is the claim that Sto. Niño has the first clay altar in Pampanga.

The Archdiocese of San Fernando and the Center for Kapampangan Studies of the Holy Angel University have yet to validate the claim, at least at the provincial and regional levels.

Juarez said the title is being sought on the 25th anniversary of the segregation of Sitio Sapa from Barangay San Matias in 1985.

Two priests, a volcanic eruption and the bayanihan (cooperation) of the people make up the story of a unique altar in a place originally named after a stream.

Sapa, already thriving from a homegrown pottery industry, did not have its own chapel in the 1970s.

The parish priest then, Fr. Benjamin Henson, began celebrating Masses at least once a month at the rice warehouse of Dominga Baluyut.

The warehouse became the venue of the local crusade for the Virgen de los Remedios and Cristo del Pardon, the patrons of Pampanga. In the same warehouse, Arsenio Santos taught catechism to young people.

Teenagers in the town, who call their group Korokan & Co., raised funds, enabling them to commission an artist in Macabebe to make a stone statue of the Sto. Niño (Child Jesus), Sapa?s patron.

By 1978, led by then Mayor Demetrio Pineda, Sapa found a new site for a chapel, which was built as slow or as fast as the residents raised money. In January 1985, the chapel was blessed and Sapa took on its patron?s name.

Mt. Pinatubo?s eruptions in 1991 and lahar flows in 1995 buried the chapel. The stream choked with volcanic debris, causing weekslong flood.

The new parish priest, Msgr. Eugene Reyes, began the reconstruction of the chapel in 2003. Again the residents put their fund-raising skills to work.

Juarez said a parishioner, Jerry Basilio, suggested using clay in making the altar.

?Among Gene was puzzled. He asked me to draw and explain. Others thought the idea was way off or it was grand. I simply wanted to use clay because we have many of that here and we have so many craftsmen to do it,? said Basilio, 47.

Soon an army of workers from the A. Baluyut Clay, CB Pottery, DJ Ceramics, Eliano Baluyut Pottery Inc., FB Ceramics, Hilaga Ceramics, L&G Ceramics and Melquiades Ceramics descended on rice fields, digging for clay.

They fashioned and baked the earth to perfection along Basilio?s designs that were made with the guidance of Reyes.

Except for the statues of the Sto. Niño, Immaculate Conception and St. Matthias, everything in the main altar?casings, small columns and balustrades, walls, candle holders and ornaments?are made of clay.

The base of the minor altar and lectern also used clay.

Irwin Nucum of Kayaptas, a civil society group in Sto. Tomas, said Reyes achieved what he wanted?teach basic catechism through the images and symbols.

With a new retablo that is a feature of Pampanga churches in the times of the Augustinian Order, the chapel was dedicated by Archbishop Paciano Aniceto on Jan. 11, 2006, and blessed by Bishop Pablo Virgilio David on Oct. 14, 2007.

?The retablo is a very concrete expression of our Catholic faith, of how we work together. It is also a showcase of our artistry,? said Basilio. ?Clay is not anymore just for plant pots.?