EXHIBIT 31.1


                  CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                           PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-14(a)

         I, Mark A. Gamble, as President and the principal executive officer of
First Community Corporation, certify that:

         1.     I have reviewed this quarterly report of First Community
                Corporation;

         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 small business issuer as of,
                and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4.     The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) 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)) for the small business issuer 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 small business issuer, 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) Evaluated the effectiveness of the small business issuer'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

                (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the small business
                issuer's internal control over financial reporting that
                occurred during the small business issuer's most recent fiscal
                quarter (the small business issuer's fourth fiscal quarter in
                the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or
                is reasonably likely to materially affect, the small business
                issuer's internal control over financial reporting; and

         5.     The small business issuer's other certifying officer(s) and I
                have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
                internal control over financial reporting, to the small
                business issuer's auditors and the audit committee of the
                small business issuer'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
                small business issuer'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 small business issuer's internal control over financial
                reporting.


Date: May 16, 2005

/s/ Mark A. Gamble
- -----------------------------
Mark A. Gamble
President of First Community Corporation and
         President and Chief Executive Officer of First Community Bank
(Principal Executive Officer of the Small Business Issuer)