Exhibit 31.b

    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 annual report on Form 10-K 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  officer 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 (the  registrant's  fourth
            fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual report) 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.


March 7, 2006                                          /s/ Eric P. Credle
                                                       Eric P. Credle
                                                       Chief Financial Officer