why i can access "protected property of model" in controller directly in codeigniter4

Today, 
         I'm playing with Codeigniter 4 and create a crud application.

         But when I access "MODELS PROTECTED PROPERTIES" directly in the controller it gives me data on why it will not giving any error.

         example:
                        when I try to access " protected $validationRules  " property of model it will return array of rules.
                        I'm not using the " public getValidationRules()  "  method I'm directly accessing the property and it gives me data.

That’s because of the “magic” __get() function that return the property if it exists:

PHP Code:

if (property_exists($this, $name))
{
    return $this->{$name};
}