Exhibit 31.2

    Chief Financial Officer Certification Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350,
     As Adopted Pursuant to Section 302(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Eric P. Credle, certify that:

      1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of First Bancorp;

      2.  Based on my  knowledge,  this  report  does  not  contain  any  untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

      3. Based on my knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the
financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

      4. The registrant's  other  certifying  officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal  control over financial
reporting  (as defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(f) and  15d-15(f))  for the
registrant and have:

      (a)   Designed such  disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
            disclosure   controls  and  procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
            supervision,  to ensure that  material  information  relating to the
            registrant,  including its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known
            to us by others  within  those  entities,  particularly  during  the
            period in which this report is being prepared;

      (b)   Designed such internal control over financial  reporting,  or caused
            such internal control over financial  reporting to be designed under
            our  supervision,  to provide  reasonable  assurance  regarding  the
            reliability of financial  reporting and the preparation of financial
            statements  for  external  purposes  in  accordance  with  generally
            accepted accounting principles;

      (c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's  disclosure controls
            and  procedures and presented in this report our  conclusions  about
            the effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,  as of
            the  end  of the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on  such
            evaluation; and

      (d)   Disclosed  in this  report any change in the  registrant's  internal
            control  over   financial   reporting   that  occurred   during  the
            registrant's   most  recent  fiscal   quarter  that  has  materially
            affected,   or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

      5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,  based
on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,  to
the  registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee of  registrant's  board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      (a)   All significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial  reporting which are
            reasonably  likely to adversely affect the  registrant's  ability to
            record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      (b)   Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or
            other  employees  who have a  significant  role in the  registrant's
            internal control over financial reporting.

May 9, 2005                                              /s/ Eric P. Credle
                                                         Eric P. Credle
                                                         Chief Financial Officer


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