He was raised in nearby San José de Jáchal, and earned a teaching diploma at the local normal school.

Governor Eloy Camus named Gioja his private secretary upon taking office in 1973, and the latter also served as San Juan chapter President of Juventud Peronista (Peronist Youth).

In 1976, whilst working for the provincial government, Gioja was detained in a forced disappearance by the military authorities following the March 1976 coup.

[2] In 1991, Gioja was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies for San Juan for the Popular Justicialist Front.

He has been implicated in the Senate scandal in which State Intelligence funds were allegedly used to bribe senators for their vote on a 2000 labour reform package advanced by the President of Argentina at the time, Fernando de la Rúa.