For the symmetric cone complementarity problem, we show that each stationary point of the unconstrained minimization reformulation based on the FischerBurmeister merit function is a solution to the problem, provided that the gradient operators of the mappings involved in the problem satisfy column monotonicity or have the Cartesian P 0-property. These results answer the open question proposed in the article that appeared in Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications 355 (2009) 195215.