Manila, Sept. 14 -- The Senate impeachment court's unusual composition -- only five of 24 senator-judges are lawyers -- strengthens the need to hear legal experts instead of treating the chamber like an ordinary court, Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan said Monday.

Pangilinan raised the point after the impeachment court allowed retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang to testify despite the defense's objection that much of her testimony involved laws and jurisprudence that could simply be judicially noticed.

"We are only five lawyers here out of 24 senators," Pangilinan said.

He noted that Rule 129 of the Rules of Court on judicial notice primarily operates in the judiciary, where judges are lawyers and are expected ...