Does heaven have jeepneys?
No one thinks of asking it, but it was a question that one loving mother from Argao, Cebu, has wondered herself.
Recently, Nida Villarte grieved the loss of her son, John Ethan Aries Amancia, who was loved by many and dearly remembered as a sweet, caring boy.
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Growing up, Aries, a six-year-old boy, had a dream that we do not usually hear among kids his age. He wanted to be a jeepney driver after his fixation on a particular blue jeepney that he loved.
A month after his death, his dream was immortalized with his mother’s initiative, who helped him fulfill his lifelong wish, at least in his afterlife.
Remembering Aries: a kind, God-fearing boy
Aries was a kind young kid who had always expressed his faith in God and religion. He had lived a life exploring the world, led by his kindness and compassion towards other people.
Nida, Aries’ mom, had various memories of her son, which she, fortunately, documented through mementos, from his important milestones to the smallest routinary events in the boy’s life.
In a Facebook post, Nida shared one of her fondest memories with her late son.
While eating in a donut food place, Aries saw a little girl walking barefoot on the street, so he immediately asked his mother what had happened to the girl.
Nida explained that the little girl’s mother probably did not have money to buy her slippers and food. Aries felt disheartened, so he did what he could and gave his favorite donut to the little girl.
The small sacrifice and compassionate act he did mirrors what type of life he must have lived.
Remembering his love for the blue 10F jeepney
Blue was Aries’ favorite color, which was probably one of the reasons why he was always drawn to the blue 10F jeepney, a story popularly shared on social media sites recently.
Aries used to study at the University of San Jose Recoletos in Basak, Cebu City, so he often rides a 10F jeepney with his mother, who is also a teacher at the same school, as part of his daily routine to go to school.
John Ethan Aries is seen posing beside his favorite blue 10F jeepney. | Photo: Nida Villarte
On multiple occasions, the little boy noticed a particularly spacious blue 10F jeepney. It immediately became his favorite, and he hoped every morning that he would ride it on his way to school with his mother.
His love for the jeepney went beyond wishing he could drive a similar one day. He also imagined how he would design his jeepney with his mother’s help. He kept this fixation on the jeepney even hours before his death.
On June 4, 2024, Aries’ life was taken from his family due to high-output cardiac failure and sepsis. His mother, Nida, was heartbroken as she grieved the loss of her son, but she managed to recall a special moment hours before Aries’ death.
Nida recalled his son hallucinating, pointing in a particular direction, uttering one of his final words: “Ma, naa na ang blue 10F!”
(Ma, the blue 10F is here.)
A Mother’s tribute to her Son
Aries is buried at the Simala cemetery in Sibonga town in southern Cebu, where Nida continues visiting him.
For the past few weeks, she never failed to commemorate the life of her son by sharing some of her most precious memories with him on Facebook, including his last birthday and his graduation from kindergarten, which happened the month before he died.
More so, he took his dedication to commemorate her son even further after she gave Cebuano visual artist Wyndelle Remonde an art project to fulfill his son’s lifelong wish.
With the help of Remonde, she painted her son’s resting place to appear as the blue 10F jeepney he once loved while he was alive. In a sense, Nida fulfills her son’s wish to ride his blue 10F jeepney in his final resting place.
The final resting place of John Ethan Aries at the Simala Cemetery in Sibonga is painted to appear as a blue 10F jeepney. | Photo: Nida VIllarte
“You haven’t told me yet if heaven has a jeepney, so here it is; it’s coming your way. Don’t make your fare too pricey. Have fun and drive safely, okay,” Nida wrote on a Facebook post directed to her late son.
More than a month after her son’s passing, Nida still chooses to commemorate him through the memories he left behind, a pillow with his son’s photo given to her by the parents of her son’s classmates, and his son’s final resting place which symbolizes a wish she helped to fulfill.
To answer the question: does heaven have jeepneys? We may not know for sure, but we hope it does and wish for at least one of them to be blue. It must have been parking idly on the other side, waiting to welcome Aries in the sweet afterlife.
At least in heaven, the little boy can fulfill his dream of driving his own blue 10F jeepney.
