<PAGE>

                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

                         PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE

                           SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Frank J. Mercardante, certify that:

     1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
     June 30, 2004 of Southwest Community 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(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 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) 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

          (c) 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 officer(s) 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 the 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.

Date: August 12, 2004

                                            /s/ Frank J. Mercardante
                                           -------------------------------------
                                           Frank J. Mercardante
                                           President and Chief Executive Officer

                                       23