4/9/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly additional benefits or wages of any kind except those which have been provided in this Contract Agreement.[12] By the contract, C.F. Sharp, on behalf of its principal, International Shipping Management, Inc., hired respondents as Sandblaster/Painter for a 3-month contract, with a basic monthly salary of US$450.00. Thus, the object of the contract is the service to be rendered by respondents on board the vessel while the cause of the contract is the monthly compensation they expect to receive. These terms were embodied in the Contract of Employment which was executed by the parties. The agreement upon the terms of the contract was manifested by the consent freely given by both parties through their signatures in the contract. Neither parties disavow the consent they both voluntarily gave. Thus, there is a perfected contract of employment. The Court of Appeals agreed with the submission of C.F. Sharp that the perfection and effectivity of the Contract of Employment depend upon the actual deployment of respondents. It based its conclusion that there was no perfected contract based on the following rationale: The commencement of the employer-employee relationship between plaintiffs-appellees and the foreign employer, as correctly represented by C.F. Sharp requires that conditions under Sec. D be met. The Contract of Employment was duly “Verified and approved by the POEA.” Regrettably, We have painfully scrutinized the Records and find no evidence that plaintiffsappellees were cleared for travel and departure to their port of embarkation overseas by government authorities. Consequently, non-fulfillment of this condition negates the commencement and existence of employer-employee relationship between the plaintiffs-appellees and C.F. Sharp. Accordingly, no contract between them was perfected that will give rise to plaintiffsappellees’ right of action. There can be no breach of contract when in the first place, there is no effective contract to speak of. For the same reason, and finding that the award of actual damages has no basis, the same is hereby deleted.[13] The Court of Appeals erred. The commencement of an employer-employee relationship must be treated separately from the perfection of an employment contract. Santiago v. CF Sharp Crew Management, Inc.,[14] which was promulgated on 10 July 2007, is an instructive precedent on this point. In said case, petitioner was hired by respondent on board “MSV Seaspread” for US$515.00 per month for nine (9) months, plus overtime pay. Respondent failed to deploy petitioner from the port of Manila to Canada. We made a distinction between the perfection of the employment contract and the commencement of the employer-employee relationship, thus: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/21758 7/11