Calling the variable property directly vs getter/setters - OOP Design

Question

I know this is probably subjective but I read this optimization page from Google for PHP and they suggest use the variable property directly without the need of getters and

Answer 1

A boilerplate answer, I'm afraid but I would suggest the following: If you have no encapsulation problems for your class (enforcing business logic, etc.) by exposing this property to other users, it is perfectly ok to do so.