MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – In anticipation of Miss Universe Catriona Gray’s homecoming, dolls representing the Philippine beauty queen are selling like hotcakes.

That gave Rappler CEO Maria Ressa an idea to help fund her legal fees involving charges filed against her for tax evasion and cyber libel.

Today, Rappler launched a Lazada-type online shopping website which sells special edition Maria Ressa dolls.  Rappler said proceeds from the sale will  hopefully generate money to help with Ressa’s legal bills.

Rappler’s current appeal for Filipinos to  subscribe to and be a member of Rappler Plus at P3,500 apiece, isn’t going very well. It is apparent that many Filipinos are hesistant to cough up hard-earned money just to receive fake and biased news from Rappler.

But dolls always grab the attention of people and it looks like the Ressa dolls are selling quite well, like hotcakes.