'ATI belonged to the people'

About 2,000 mourners attended the burial in person, whilst an estimated 21,000 more watched via livestream. The funeral proceedings began in the early hours of the morning, at exactly 5:08am on Saturday, and stretched over 10 hours. Every moment of it seemed to mirror ATI’s life, unpredictable, unforgettable, and captured the magnitude of a life lived boldly, chaotically, and unapologetically.

Yet, even in death, controversy followed him. On Friday morning, just hours before the planned service, news broke that the funeral might not proceed at all. An urgent court application had been lodged by ATI’s biological father, Annel Bayani, who claimed he had been sidelined from his son’s funeral rites.